Undine's Cove
by Dreadburner94
Summary: Discontinued. Check out the new Reboot!
1. Prologue: The Undine's Cove

**A/N: **Well, here we are. This ideas been swimming around for a little while now, so I've decided to try my hand at an Original Guild fic.

I hope you all enjoy this story, and maybe even become excited for it. Since I don't really have much going on in my life right now, I plan on updating this story hopefully a few times every week after I get enough characters to get started.

Also, I have to thank MyDearWatson for helping me get this story off the ground and for helping me figure out all the details about the guild. So if you haven't checked out MyDearWatson's story, Thunder Stone, please do so as it's well worth the read.

And for those of you who don't know, an Undine is a water elemental or spirit.

Okay, I've redone some of the prologue, cleaned it up some, expanded on it, etcetera etcetera. Hope you enjoy it!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

It had been 3 years since the loss of Fairy Tail's core members, and they had been hard years for Hargeon Town. Forced to send their requests to Twilight Ogre, who charged outrageously high prices for their services, Hargeon Town had begun to suffer greatly from it.

A woman named Salina Velvet stood on a beach only one mile northeast of Hargeon Town, twirling her oil-paper umbrella above her. She stared out at sea contemplating her decision to create a guild. She sighed and turned to the two young mages behind her and all doubt was erased from her mind as she remembered their story.

Although Salina was 48 years old, she still looked to be in her thirties with only the faintest of wrinkles showing on her face. Salina stood at 5'10" with an average sized bust and a thin waist. Physically, there was nothing remarkable about her asides from her long silver blue hair that framed her face and was tied into and long braid that ended at her waist. She had bright blue eyes that radiated kindness which was matched her seemingly always present kind smile. She wore a light blue, robe like top that had silver trim and matching, disconnected sleeves that were long and flowing and exposed her shoulders, and black leggings that were tucked into tall, brown boots that were decorated with an assortment of buckles.

Salina used a form of magic called Weather Magic, which allowed her to manipulate the weather in her immediate area, as well as to use different weather phenomenon for offensive purposes in battle. While most people considered her magic to be powerful, she felt that she wasn't necessarily all that strong when compared to other note-worthy mages such as Jura Neekis, but her desire to protect Hargeon Town and to guide the next generation of mages was too strong for her to not act on.

So, Salina did what she believed to be the best course of action- create a guild of her own to serve as Hargeon Town's own guild. In doing so she could help protect the town and guide any mages who came to join her guild. She hoped that her guild would attract all sorts of unique mages that wanted to join her little family, and she couldn't help but feel excited at the idea. She continued looking at her first two recruits, a young man and a young woman named Rayner Casimir and Camille Arturia respectively.

"Master Velvet?" Camille called out, "Is something bothering you?"

Salina chuckled at Camille's politeness before answering as she looked at the fourteen year old girl. Camille had a strong and polite personality for such a young girl. She had blond hair that framed her face and was tied into a short ponytail at the base of her neck that ended at her shoulder blades and she had sharp, sea green eyes and light tan skin. Camille had the odd habit to dress up in men's suits, which often led to her being mistaken as a boy since she still had a boyish build, as the young girl was currently wearing a custom tailored black suit with a dark gray button-up shirt underneath that fit perfectly on the girl who stood at 5'3".

"No Camille, nothing is wrong, but thank you for your concern and please just call me Salina," she answered as she smiled at the young girl.

Camille blushed, "O-of course, my apologies Salina," she apologized while bowing slightly.

Salina sighed before turning to Rayner, a young boy who was nearly fifteen years old at the time. He had black hair with a silver streak running through it and his eyes were two different colors, his right eye was red while his left was violet and he had tan skin that had a strange black mark shaped like a five-pronged star on his left pectoral. He was a humorous young man who didn't seem to take too much very seriously, although Salina knew that acting that way was all he could do to make sure that his life would leave no regrets.

"What do you think of building the guild hall here?" Salina asked as she gestured towards the edge of the jungle.

Rayner coughed before answering, "Here? Well, normally I wouldn't say that so close to the shore is a good building spot, but with your magic it should be safe from storms. And the cove will break most of the waves anyways," Rayner replied with a smirk, "But what do you want to call the guild?"

Salina turned back around and looked out at the rock walls forming the cove and smiled, "There's a legend that I've been fond of for the longest time," she responded as she started walking along the beach, the two young mages following her, "It's a sad legend, but the legend is about this place, this cove. The legend of Undine's Cove."

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Well there it is, please remember to have fun and be creative when creating your characters. And just below is the OC Form that I want you all to use when creating your character, and please submit them via PM.

Thanks for reading!

Edit: Okay, I've rewritten and redone some of the prologue, so I hope you enjoyed it! And yeah, I'm just going to leave the OC Form here for villains and side characters and all that, which I do accept.

Your Host,

dreadburner94

**OC FORM FOR UNDINE'S COVE! PLEASE READ ALL THE NOTES AND REMOVE THE PARENTHESIS BEFORE SUBMITTING!**

**Name-** ((First and Last))

**Age-** ((5-70; Those in 15-32 are preferred though))

**Gender-** ((Male or Female))

**Magic-** ((Please name and **describe** the magic(s) that your OC uses. Please remember that I will not be accepting any Slayers at this point. Also I prefer no more than 2 or so types of magic unless you do good job explaining how they got their magic. They don't have to use magic, and can instead use magic weapons or something.))

**Notable Spells-** ((Please, please, please come up with a list of spells for your OC, it would make things much more easy for me when it comes to action scenes if you could provide the names of the spells and a detailed description of what the spell does and looks like. You can come up with as many spells as you like, but I would prefer to have at least 6 spells with one of them being your character's ace-in-the-hole and please don't make all of their spells over-powered.))

**Weapons/Equipment-** ((Please list any notable weapons or equipment here. And your OC doesn't have to have any weapons or equipment, but your OC must have something to fight with and cannot be devoid of magic or weapons unless he/she is a waiter/waitress or something.))

**Appearance-** ((Please include hair color/style/length and eye color/shape, guild mark color/location, height, body build, skin tone and anything else that is prominent such as scars, birthmarks, piercings, tattoos, etc.))

**Regular Clothes-** ((Please include the description of your OC's regular outfit here.))

**Formal Wear-** ((Please include the description of your OC's formal clothing here.))

**Swimwear-** ((Please include the description of your OC's swimwear here.))

**Sleep Wear-** ((Please include the description of your OC's sleep wear here.))

**Winter Wear-** ((Please include the description of your OC's winter wear here.))

**Other-** ((Any additional details/outfits you want to provide?))

**Personality-** ((The more descriptive you are the better that I will be able to portray them. If you only write a few short sentences, then I can't guarantee that I'll be able to write them well and I might tell you to expand your description of their personality because that makes it so much more easy for me. Also please include any mannerisms, hobbies, habits, talents, quirks and whatever else you want to include. The more you provide the more I'll have to work with.))

**Likes-** ((Write a list of various things your OC likes.))

**Dislikes-** ((Write a list of various things your OC dislikes.))

**Fears-** ((Write a list of various things your OC is afraid of, including their worst nightmare.))

**Strangers-** ((Please describe how your OC acts around strangers.))

**Acquaintances-** ((Please describe how your OC acts around acquaintances.))

**Friends-** ((Please describe how your OC acts around close friends.))

**Rivals-** ((Please describe how your OC acts around rivals.))

**Family (if any)-** ((Please describe how your OC acts around any family they might have.))

**Crushes-** ((Please describe how your OC acts around any crushes.))

**Enemies-** ((Please describe how your OC acts around enemies.))

**Type of Person They Would Like-** ((As the guild is in Hargeon Town, it would be a bit difficult for your OC to have a relationship with a canon character since the guilds are not in the same town, but if you really want them to be in a relationship with one of the members of Fairy Tail after they return I will try to make it work as best as I can. Also I won't be making girly girl characters have relationships with characters like Gajeel or Laxus since I don't really see how that would work. Also, any relationship with a canon character will take a while to start, even if the canon character is not a member of Fairy Tail. If you're making more than one character and you want them to wind up together, please let me know, otherwise I will be pairing them up with another character in the guild as I see fit. So to that note, please describe what kind of person that your OC would be interested in and also what kind of person that they would not be interested in.))

**History-** ((Be creative, make a history for your OC, things like that really help give ideas for the story. Also, they can have pasts with canon characters, so long as its believable. For instance, say they were best friends with Levy when they were both 3 years old (that would mean they were born in the year X767), that would mean that your OC is now 25-26 years old while Levy is still 17-18 years old due to that 7 YEAR TIMESKIP. Also, please keep in mind that the story starts in early spring of the year X790.

Now then, regarding the character's history, please tell me everything you know about the OC, such as where they come from, what they've been through, where they got their magic, the current state of their family, and any character you want them to have a past with, such as a parent stopping by the guild or an old enemy or friend, in which case please describe them as well.

And do please remember that the story will be starting in X790, a year before the missing Fairy Tail members return in X791.))

**Other-** ((Anything I forget or didn't include in the form that you want me to know about your character?))


	2. Welcome to the Cove!

**A/N: **Wow, you guys are great, you know that? I expected that I would have to wait a few days before being able to write the first chapter, but here it is nonetheless.

I have 20 OCs right now, **I need 10 more** all right? Also, I've reached the cap on Dragon Slayers and even accepted 1 more than I said I would. Also I need 3 more S-Class Mages ideally. Also, please continue to use the form provided at the end of the prologue when creating your characters and please send it in via PM if you are able, it makes it so much easier to communicate in case I have a question about your character.

Also if you guys have any ideas for villains or just ideas regarding your characters, please send them in via PM so that the ideas or villains can remain a secret until it's time for me to reveal them.

Also, please have patience if your OC was not introduced in this chapter, I'll get around to introducing them all in the next few chapters.

I would like to thanks MyDearWatson, M-anonymous, potentialauthor18, Reitzel-chan, WaterDragonMaverick, WrittenWhim, Falling Lanterns, Stormhawk99, Saiyan-Styles, Talieam, PhantomvZero, Hikari, and ViennaxSky for sending in characters.

I would also like to send thanks MyDearWatson, Hikari, PhantomvZero, Believe in the Unknown, Stormhawk99, ViennaxSky, Saiyan-Styles, and potentialauthor18 for their reviews.

**MyDearWatson–** I'm glad that you're excited for this story, and that you like Salina already. I just hope that I can pull it off.

**Hikari**- Don't worry about getting mixed up when sending in your OC, you seemed to be awfully busy and I hope that your move went okay.

**PhantomvZero**- I'm glad that you like when you like... umm...Kapoh?

**Believe in the Unknown**- I'm glad that you like it so far and are excited for the chapter. Feel free to send in your OC whenever you're ready to.

**Stormhawk99**- Thank you for your character!

**ViennaxSky- **Thank you for your character and I hope that you enjoy how I introduced Yune.

**Saiyan-Styles**- I'm glad that you liked the prologue and I hope that you enjoy chapter 1 as well.

**Potentialauthor18- **It would seem that way wouldn't it? And you're right, it's not a bad thing at all! And once again, thank you for your character!

**Credits:**

**Salina Velvet- dreadburner94**

**Yuuna "Yune" Mirunaka- ViennaxSky**

**Camille Arturia- dreadburner94**

**Rayner Casimir- dreadburner94**

**Miriam Krozenbell- Falling Lanterns**

**Aspen Weathercroft- WrittenWhim**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Please Enjoy!

**Chapter 1**

Salina Velvet exited the train and walked out of the station, she had just returned from her regular guild master's meeting with Fairy Tail, Blue Pegasus, Quatro Cerberus, Twilight Ogre, and all the other guilds in the district. All in all, Salina thought that Undine's Cove had grown well over the past three years, gaining several unique members along the way. Salina smiled to herself as she continued to walk through Hargeon Town, twirling her oil-paper umbrella over her head as she walked. Salina now bore her guild mark, a sideways crescent moon with the points facing upwards with a raindrop sitting in the middle of it so that it resembled a trident, in light blue on her left shoulder.

Hargeon Town had grown considerably due to the presence of her guild. Magic was now a booming industry in the town and the fishing industry had continued to grow even larger. The city itself was now much larger as well, with the port being repaired and enlarged ever since it was destroyed by Natsu Dragneel all those years ago, making Hargeon Fiore's largest port city. The citizens of Hargeon Town had taken well to Salina and her guild, and many of them would greet Salina whenever she took a walk through town.

Salina stopped at the long dirt road that led to her guild and saw one of her guild members lying on the path asleep. She sighed to herself as she looked down at the young girl, who went by the name of Yuuna Mirunaka, but most people just called her Yune. She stood at about 5'1", just below average height for a girl her age, she had long and straight raven black hair that had a streak of silver running through it and stormy gray eyes. Since it was still early spring, she was currently wearing black leggings with a slightly oversized sweater and boots, which hid her curves. Yune was a quieter girl in the guild, who often just sat back and watched the others interact when she didn't fall asleep due to being up all night. From what Salina knew, Yune used a type of lost magic called Lumire, which was a moon based magic that utilized mirages and deception, but Salina figured that there might be more to the magic than Yune told her, but she didn't want to pry if she didn't want to talk about it.

Knowing that Yune probably fell asleep on her way back to the guild, Salina picked her up and placed her on her back before continuing to walk back to the guildhall. As Salina entered the cove she looked out at sea before turning to face her guildhall. The guildhall was a large, round, open building that overlooked the cove. The building was supported by several columns made of bamboo shoots that came out of a cement base and are woven together intricately. In front of the guildhall is a wooden sign that reads "Undine's Cove" with the guild mark replacing the "O" in cove. The first floor has an assortment of tables and chairs made of wood for the guild members to hangout at and to kill time. In the middle of the first floor is a round bar that is stocked with a plethora of alcohol types, inside the bar area is a spiral staircase that leads to a second floor that is closed off from the elements, unlike the first floor. On the second floor is the guild's meeting room, where the guild would gather for important announcements, and the guilds two request boards, one for regular missions and one for S-Class missions, which are made out of a dark wood with a tropical motif. The rest of the second floor was filled with an assortment of couches and armchairs that were either arranged in groups, or were facing towards a small stage where Salina would stand to make important announcements. Also, in the far corner next to the stage is Salina's office and master bedroom. To the right of the guildhall is a large building that resembles a large, three story, island hut that acts as the male dorm, and to the left of the guildhall is an identical building that acts as the female dorm. The dorms were free for the mages to use, so they had more of an appeal, however the mages must pay for any damages they make. Also, for the guild's resident healer, Salina had a building constructed between the guildhall and the female dorm to act as the guild's infirmary that had the same island hut theme as the dorms. Behind the guildhall was a large jungle that was enclosed by mountains, the mages of Undine's cove would usually use that area as their training grounds, so long as they put out any fires they make and don't purposefully harm the local wildlife, and in front of the guildhall was a large beach that was in a large cove that large ships were unable to enter. On the beach were several lounging chairs and umbrellas for the guild members to relax at, there are also places for the guild members to play volleyball, badminton, and soccer as well. And with her magic, Salina could keep the guildhall safe from any storms that might threaten it. All in all, Salina was proud of her guild and felt that there was no better place to relax.

As Salina walked into the open first floor, she spotted three of her mages sitting at the bar, two of them being Camille and Rayner, and the third being a newer mage to Undine's Cove named Miriam Krozenbell. Camille was a proud and polite young woman at the age of 17 who stood at 5'7" with pale skin and a boyish build. She had shoulder length blond hair that was tied into a ponytail at the base of her neck and framed her face and fell just above her eyes. She had sharp, sea green eyes and a slightly pointed nose. Camille was known to wear a casual and stylish black suit with a dark gray dress shirt, black dress shoes, black gloves, and a black tie. However she was never seen without a silver, sword-shaped pendant that was given to her by her master. Camille used a unique magic that her master created and taught her, called Gunblade Magic, that allowed her to utilize swords as magic cannons, the element of Gunblade Magic changes from user to user, and Camille's magic happened to take on the properties of wind magic. Camille had a multitude of swords in her requip space, but her favorite sword was a steel broadsword embellished with gold and had a blue cloth wrapped around the hilt that she called Arturia's Tear, which she named in memory of her deceased parents. Lastly, Camille's guild mark was burgundy and was on her right hand under her glove.

Rayner was a playful and cheerful young man that had a chronic cough and stood at 5'9" with tanned skin and a thin, but muscular build. He had silver-ish gray hair that had a streak of black in it that fell just above his eyes and was cut around his ears. He had slanted eyes with his right eye being violet in color and his right eye being a striking crimson. He had a strange, wavy black tattoo that started on his left pectoral and ran up around his left eye. Rayner was usually seen wearing a midnight blue coat that had black trim over a skin-tight, sleeveless black shirt. He also usually wore black jeans with a black leather belt and were tucked into short, brown boots that had loose black cuffs. Rayner used Forge Magic, which allowed him to create any weapon, with any magic property, in any quantity that he desired so long as his magic reserves could support them all. Rayner's guild mark was black in color and on his left shoulder.

And lastly, Miriam was a cold and cunning young girl who stood at 5'6" with pale skin and an averagely curvy build. She had black hair that was kept in a wavy ponytail that ended in the center of her back with two strands of hair framing her face. She had intimidating, bright green eyes with cat-like pupils that were often kept in an unamused look. She was wearing a figure-hugging, gray bunny eared hoodie over a blue shirt with a blue miniskirt, black stockings, and black flats. Miriam used Night Magic, which allowed her to utilize dark energy to attack, as well as to draw power from the moon to attack and to heal allies. Miriam's guild mark was dark blue and was located just above her chest, she also had a large scar on her left shoulder that reached down her back.

Salina sat Yune down in a chair at a table so she would have a place to rest her head, then she turned back to look at the three sitting at the bar. She still remembered the day that Miriam joined the guild well, Camille had found her in Hargeon Town about a year ago and the girl had asked to be recruited since Camille was one of the founding mages, so Camille and brought Miriam to her and she was accepted into the guild and Miriam had been Camille's constant companion since she formed a team with both Camille and Rayner, although Camille often had to be the peacekeeper between Miriam and Rayner since they didn't get along most of the time.

Salina sighed as she noticed that no one was manning the bar at the moment and then walked behind the bar, "Anything that I can get you three?" she asked with a kind smile.

"Master Velvet! Please allow me to work the bar! The guild master should not have to do such a job," Camille pleaded when she noticed that Salina had started working at the bar again, causing Rayner to snicker and Miriam to sigh as this had become a routine event.

Salina looked at Camille before sighing, "Camille," she started off sternly, "How many times have I told you to call me Salina, and besides, I enjoy working at the bar and you wouldn't want to deny your guild master something she enjoys doing would you?" Salina took Camille's defeated look as her answer, "Now what can I get you three?"

"Just get us a few beers for now Salina," Rayner answered with a smirk while he laid enough Jewels on the bar to pay for them all. Salina nodded as she took the money and went to prepare the drinks.

"You really are too polite, Camille," Miriam stated with a scowl while folding some origami, "It's annoying sometimes."

"Our little Cam-chan has been like that ever since I met her, Kitty," Rayner added with a smirk.

"What'd you call me you moron!?" Miriam shouted as she jumped up from her stool, giving Rayner a glare that would kill lesser men.

Rayner broke out into a full grin as he answered, "I think I called you 'Kitty'," he answered as he stood up from his stool, knowing what would happen next, "Is that a problem?"

Miriam bolted towards Rayner as he broke out into a run, "Get back here!" she yelled as she chased him around the bar.

Salina sighed as she set down the three drinks, "Those two are at it again, eh? So long as nothing catches fire."

After watching the two of them run several laps around the bar, Camille stuck her foot out, tripping Rayner and sending him sliding across the cement floor. As Rayner laid on the ground in pain, Camille walked over to him and summoned her sword and placed it near his neck, "Never call me 'Cam-chan', and don't antagonize Miriam," she demanded while sending him a glare that rivaled Miriam's.

Miriam just stared at the scene, it was rare to see Camille so worked up, but she did appreciate the action. Rayner gulped, "All right, all right, it won't happen again. Can you please put the sword away now?" he pleaded while sweating profusely. Even though Miriam was scary in her own right, Rayner for some reason just wasn't intimidated by her, but when Camille became upset he compared it to staring at a sword-wielding demon. Camille took a deep breath before putting her sword away, then she helped Rayner stand back up, "Thanks for not gutting me, Camille," Rayner smiled and laughed nervously as he watched Camille return to the bar with an embarrassed blush on her face because of her outburst.

"So... we cool Miriam?" Rayner asked nervously as he walked over to her, still shaken up by Camille's outburst.

"Yeah, I think you've gotten enough punishment for now," she answered with a mischievous smile.

"Okay, good," Rayner replied and began to walk back to the bar, but suddenly stopped, "Wait a moment, what does that mean!?"

"You really are an idiot sometimes," Miriam laughed as she sat down.

**. : + : .**

Elsewhere, in Hargeon's port, a young female mage was returning from a mission to apprehend some criminals. Strangely though, they had hid on Galuna Island and by the time she had arrived to hunt them down they had run up to her and pleaded for her to take them from the island, claiming that it was inhabited by demons. More than happy to oblige she had swiftly rendered them unconscious, tied them up, and took them back to her ship and returned to Hargeon Town.

The woman's name was Aspen Weathercroft and she stood at 5'7" with a lithe and subtlety toned build. She kept her shoulder length, dark brown hair neatly tied back into a ponytail and had dark amber eyes. Aspen usually wore a dark blue shirt under a long, light brown coat, brown trousers, and a pair of simple running shoes. Aspen used Temperature Magic, which was simple in nature, but incredibly versatile. It allowed her to manipulate temperature in the form of pure energy, rather than in a physical form like ice or fire magic. She also knew some Wind Magic, which when paired with her Temperature Magic, allowed her to heat or cool the air. She was also experimenting to see if her magic could be used to "freeze" or "burn up" her opponent's magic, but so far had met little success. Lastly, her guild mark was dark blue in color and was on the inside of her right wrist.

The 18 year-old sighed after turning the criminals into the authorities and was disappointed with how easy it had been to capture them, despite the fact that the reward had been good. She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out an old magic compass and stared at it. She had no idea what the compass was supposed to do, but she had found it a while back and had discovered that while it did have magic properties, it was broken. Most people would've thrown it away, but Aspen was patient enough to discover the compass's secrets.

She quickly slipped the compass back into her coat pocket and began walking into town, "Maybe I should buy myself a new puzzle?" she wondered aloud to herself, "I finished the last one I had before I left."

**A/N: **There it is, the first chapter of this story. I hope you all enjoyed it!

And like I said earlier, please have patience if your character hasn't shown up yet, I have to come up with the proper timing for each one.

I'll try to have the next chapter up within the next day or so.

Please remember to leave a review!

Your Host,

dreadburner94.


	3. Dragon Slayers and a Perverted Cat

**A/N: **Okay, so I have a reason for taking so long on this chapter when I said "next day or so". When I woke up on Friday, I was told to pack my bags since I would be going on a road trip as soon as my mother returned home from work and I would be returning on Monday, and since nobody told me of it beforehand, I couldn't tell you guys until after I arrived at my destination (where I did tell a few of you over a PM since you happened to message me). I also got sick on Saturday, so I was sick and away from home at the same time, which is a horrible thing. But I was able to devote what time I had over the weekend to planning out the story and organizing things, so I'm hoping to get a few chapters out (including this one) during this week.

Also, as you might have guessed by the change in the story's summary, I've hit 30 OCs (31 actually, since I said that I would be accepting around 30). And I have 4 Dragon Slayers, and 5 S-Class Mages, with both of those being above their quotas, but oh well.

Well then, please have patience if your character is not introduced in this chapter, because I will get around to introducing them all in the next few chapters.

I would like to send thanks to Asher Grey, UnderTheDeepBlue, Believe in the Unknown, LightandDarkHeart, lexlovesya, potentialauthor18, Joshua1277, QueenKazza, PrinceOfTheMatrix, and writtenmindset for sending in OCs and villains.

I would also like to send thanks to Falling Lanterns, WrittenWhim, Saiyan-Styles, WaterDragonMaverick, M-anonymous, MyDearWatson, lexlovesya, H8rslovemecausei'mawesome (aka Believe in the Unknown), LightandDarkHeart, Reitzel-chan, UnderTheDeepBlue, Asher Grey, potentialauthor18, ViennaxSky, Stormhawk99, Blazingfire55, Hikari, PhantomvZero, and Hawk725 for their reviews.

**Falling Lanterns-** Ha! Compass, lead to, that's so punny, you my friend are priceless. Anyways, I'm glad that you liked the chapter and that you like the characters introduced so far, I hope you enjoy this one as well!

**WrittenWhim- **I'm glad that you liked the chapter and that it was just detailed enough to not be painful to read, that's what I'm aiming for these first few chapters since I have to introduce all of the mages. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

**Saiyan-Styles- **Well whatever you decide, let me know through a PM, and I'm glad that you enjoyed the last chapter and hope that you enjoy this one as well!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Glad that you enjoyed the last chapter, and we might see some of the Dragon Slayers soon *gives a knowing smile*. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**M-anonymous- **I'm that you enjoyed the last chapter. And I'm sorry about the wait for this one, hope you enjoy it!

**MyDearWatson- **I'm glad that you liked the chapter and think that I managed to pull it off, I hope I manage to with this chapter as well. I'm glad that you like Team Camille's introduction, the three of them mesh well together, but it took me a while to settle on which idea of how to introduce I liked best, and who could Camille's master be? It seems like if I read Thunder Stone that I might be able to figure it out based on the magic she uses and her necklace XD. I think Yune's going to be one of the more adorable members of the guild, but we'll see where I take her after she wakes up in a few chapters. We'll learn more about Aspen in due time, there's already quite a bit already lined up for her, but it's good to hear that you've taken an interest in her. Hope you enjoy this chapter and how I introduced your OCs!

**lexlovesya- **I'm glad that you think that the story is interesting so far. Thank you for your OCs and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**H8slovemecauseI'mawesome (AKA- Believe in the Unknown)-** I'm glad that you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope that you enjoy this one too! Also, thank you for your character!

**LightandDarkHeart- **I'm glad that you think it's interesting so far and I hope that you enjoy this chapter as well! I'm glad that you like that about Salina and that you think the OCs introduced so far are cool. Now before I forget, thank you for your villain!

**Reitzel-chan- **I'm glad that you like the layout of the guild, especially the infirmary, I added that while I was writing the chapter just for Caleb (who I plan on introducing in either the next chapter or the one after), and I'm glad that you liked Rayner. As this is my first story, I'm still adjusting my writing style, so things may change with how I handle the introductions or they may not. And at the time that you had sent in your review I had hardly any plans at all, but I managed to correct that issue over the weekend, so yes, I have plans on how to do that now. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**UnderTheDeepBlue- **I'm sorry that it's causing you to skip some, but these first few chapters are going to be loaded with descriptive paragraphs since I have to introduce all of the characters and I want to give them the all good introductions. At least I won't have to describe what the guild looks like this chapter (cause I know that that was a looooong descriptive paragraph). So don't worry, after I finish introducing all of the characters the story will become easier to read since the descriptive paragraphs won't be as common, they'll still happen, but they won't take up most of the chapters. Okay? Anyways, I hope that you enjoy the chapter and how I introduced Sean and Jean!

**Asher Grey- **That's good to hear, I always look through a chapter several times before posting, but sometimes I miss a few errors, like in chapter 1 I skipped some words in the author's notes and didn't notice until after I posted the chapter. Well anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**potentialauthor18- **Glad that you liked the first chapter, and yeah, I've received a lot of interesting magics alongside the characters that I've just thought, "Why didn't I think of that?" Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**ViennaxSky- **I'm glad that you loved how I introduced Yune, it's good to hear that a reader enjoyed how I chose to introduce their character, and she'll wake up in a few chapters after night falls. I'm glad that you enjoy my writing style as well, I try to catch all of the writing mistakes before posting a chapter, but some got through in the author's notes last time. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Stormhawk99- **I'm glad that you liked the first chapter and I hope that you enjoy this one as well as how I've introduced Fareth!

**Blazingfire55- **I'm glad that like the story so far and I hope that you enjoy this chapter as well. Also, since I did say "around 30", I'm willing to take in one more OC so long as it isn't a Dragon Slayer, a God Slayer, or an S-Class mage (unless it's a villain, then it can be whatever you want so long as it makes sense).

**Hikari- **I'm glad that you liked the last chapter and she'll appear soon, don't worry. Well I'm sure that your cat will forgive you eventually, I know that my dog can get pretty upset with me sometimes when I leave him someplace for a long time. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**PhantomvZero- **I'm glad that you like the story, and Thunder Stone as well. I haven't read Herald's Crest yet, but don't worry, I don't think you're going mad. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Hawk725- **Glad that you enjoyed the chapter!

Whew, that was a lot of reviews, 19 to be exact. So once again, thank you for all of your reviews and characters!

**Credits:**

**Ajax Cruz and Leon- MyDearWatson**

**Reno Lozier- MyDearWatson**

**Jace Maverick and Rave- WaterDragonMaverick**

**Fareth Keylian- Stormhawk99**

**Sean Clement and Jean- UnderTheDeepBlue**

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

"Well," Rayner started, "Do you think it's time to get going?" he asked Camille with a smirk.

Camille looked up from her empty mug and nodded, "Yes," she answered before turning to look at Salina, who was busy polishing glasses, "We'll be going on this mission, Salina," Camille stated as she pulled the mission request from her pocket set it on the bar.

"Oh? You're going on a mission?" Salina asked as she set down the glass and rag and picked up the request paper to look it over. "Well it looks like you're off to deal with some thieves, alright then," she spoke as she reached under the bar and pulled out a large logbook and began flipping through the pages to find the mission.

"Yeah," Miriam answered, "The bastards have been harassing a merchant guild in Acalypha Town by raiding their shipments with magic." she explained as she pulled a pair of sleek, black glasses out of her pocket and put them on, pushing them up against the bridge of her nose.

Salina finished writing down the necessary information in the logbook before closing it with a loud thud, "Well you three are all set to go, good luck!" she waved goodbye as the three got up and began to walk towards the dorms to gather their things.

Before the trio could get very far, they ran into three more members of the guild. The first was a young man at the age of 21 named Ajax Cruz. He stood at 6'0" with a slim, yet muscular and toned build and tan skin. He had slicked back, platinum blond hair that reached down to the nape of his neck and ivory colored eyes. He was currently wearing a pair of light gray jeans, tucked into a pair of dark gray, steel-toed boots with nothing on his upper body asides from a pair of fingerless, white leather gloves and his assorted piercings. Both of his earlobes were pierced with earrings that have little glass orbs hanging from them and he also has metal studs up along both ears, with his left eyebrow being pierced as well. He also had a few scars on his arms and one across his back from fighting and his guild mark was on his right shoulder in white. Ajax was a third generation Glass Dragon Slayer, being the only one of the four Dragon Slayers in Undine's Cove to not be a first generation Dragon Slayer.

On Ajax's shoulder was a small lime green Exceed named Leon. He had a black, lightning stripe pattern in his fur that traveled up his back and split to end on his ears causing the tips of his ears to be black, the tip of his tail and his nose were black as well. Leon was usually always seen wearing a black, hoodie jacket with the sleeves torn off and his guild mark was located on his stomach in black. And like all Exceeds, Leon possessed the magic Aera, which allows him to sprout little white wings that give him the ability to fly.

Next to Ajax was a young woman at the age of 19 named Reno Lozier. She stood at 5'9" with a curvy and ample bust and a sun kissed tan. She had long and unkempt blond hair that fell down to her hips with ends of each layer spiking out slightly. Her bangs were the same way, framing her face and covering her forehead in the same messy and spiky way. She had bright, sea-green eyes that held a sense of adventure and excitement in them. Reno was often seen wearing tight black pants tucked into tall, brown, knee-high boots that each had three buckles on the sides of them. She also wore a semi-tight, yellow tank top that seemed to hang more loosely on her left hip, over the tank top was an open jacket that stopped just below her bust. The inside of the jacket was the same sea-green as her eyes, and the sleeves were rolled up to her elbows. Her ears were pierced with with small earrings that had little treasure chests hanging from them and the top of her left ear was pierced with two small, gold loops. Reno possessed Wind Magic and her guild mark was sea-green and on the inside of her left wrist.

The two teams walked past each other, Rayner and Ajax eying each other. As Ajax, Reno, and Leon walked into the guildhall, Camille placed a hand on Rayner's shoulder and squeezed it, "You can wait until we return for your rematch, Rayner," Camille ordered.

"Yeah yeah," he said waving off what she said as he split from the two girls to gather his things from the male dorm.

As Ajax and Reno entered the guildhall, they walked towards the bar and sat down, "Ah, Ajax, Reno, and Leon! You're back! What can I get you three?" Salina asked with a bright smile.

"Just get us a few empty mugs, I brought some of the family recipe today Salina," Reno answered brightly, "Oh and a few empty glasses for Ajax and a milk for Leon of course!" she added quickly as she sat a jar down on the bar and began to try to pull out the cork.

"Need some help with that?" Ajax asked Reno as he watched her unsuccessfully try to pull out the cork.

"No, I got this," she said as she stood up with her arm wrapped around the jar as she continued to try and pull out the cork. Reno continued to try and remove the cork when her hand slipped off of it, causing her to drop the jar on the hard concrete floor, shattering it and spilling the contents everywhere. Ajax sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose while Reno just stared at the shattered jar with a shocked expression before sinking down to the ground, "Why is the rum always gone?" she sobbed as she tried to piece together two different shards of glass.

Salina returned with the empty mugs and glasses and saw Reno on the ground trying to fix the jar, "Did you drop it again, Reno?" she asked as she set down the glasses and mugs.

"Yes," she sobbed as she stood back up and sat down on a stool next to Ajax.

"You think she would've learned by now to just let me open it after breaking so many," Ajax sighed as he picked up one of the glasses and took a bite out of it, "So we're going to need you to fill those mugs up with some of the regular stuff instead," he continued between bites as he set some Jewels down on the bar.

Salina hummed a yes as she picked up the money and began to fill the mugs as she heard a large explosion come from the jungle behind the guild.

**. : + : .**

Two mages stood staring each other down amidst the trees, the area between the two mages was ruined and smoking due their last attack, their respective 'Dragon's Roar' spells.

The first mage was a 17 year-old named Jace Maverick, he stood at 6'0" with a thin, yet muscular build and he had white, silvery hair that was cut short in a slightly grown out buzz cut. He had sharp, amber colored eyes and he had scars on his shoulders and forearms that resembled scales. He was often seen wearing different hoodies and vests over a t-shirt, but he was currently just wearing a white t-shirt that had blue sleeves with a pair of blue jeans and white sneakers and his guild mark was blue and located on his right forearm. Jace was a first generation Water Dragon Slayer that could use Ice Magic to enhance his spells, as well as Ice-Make magic.

The second mage was a 19 year-old named Fareth Keylian, he stood at 6'2" with an average build and a handsome face. He had short, chopped black hair, deep green eyes, and a prosthetic right lower leg. Fareth was most often seen wearing a black vest over a white long sleeved undershirt with a black cape and a black and white checkerboard scarf, as well as faded black jeans and black and white skater shoes. He was a first generation Fire Dragon Slayer, so it was only natural that Jace saw him as his rival.

The two of them continued to stare each other down until Jace relaxed his stance and sighed, "It looks like we're both still evenly matched," he said as he walked over to his Exceed partner, who was safeguarding his weapons and headphones.

Jace's Exceed partner had a silverish gray fur coat and was named Rave, "Here you go, Onii-chan, you'll beat him next time," the small cat said as he handed Jace his headphones. Jace scratched Rave's chin, causing him to purr, as he took the headphones, then he walked over to where his Tachi sword and his large war fan were. After Jace made sure his weapons were secured he looked over at Fareth, who was picking up a sword hilt that could generate a blade of flame.

"Ready to head back?" Jace asked as he walked over to Fareth.

"Yeah," he answered. As far as Jace could tell since Fareth joined the guild a month ago, he didn't really speak that much unless he was close to the person he was talking to or he had something to talk about, but he knew that Fareth was somebody that you could count on when you needed him.

"Alright then!" Jace announced as Rave landed on his shoulder, "Let's head back!"

**. : + : .**

Aspen Weathercroft was currently sitting in the 8-Island Restaurant ran by the former Magic Council member, Yajima, waiting for her meal. 8-Island was a popular place among the members of Undine's Cove, with many of the mages going there for their meals since the guildhall lacked the facilities required for cooking. It had been Aspen's intent to quietly work on a puzzle while waiting for her meal, but a member of her guild was currently preventing her from doing that.

The member's name was Jean, and he was a black and white Exceed that resembled a tomcat with red eyes and his guild mark was located on his back in black. He was usually seen wearing a blue robe with a large, yellow wizard's hat, but he was currently wearing the male uniform for waiters at the restaurant. While Jean is capable of utilizing Aera like all Exceeds, Jean also utilized basic element magic with a magic staff and tome that he had set in the kitchen for the time being.

Aspen sighed and looked up at Jean who had been standing on the table, "Can't you go do your job instead of bothering me?" she asked coldly, "You're annoying."

"Ahh, you're so cold-hearted Aspen!" Jean nonchalantly stated, "It makes me feel like you've got something to hide. Like some kind of dark, naughty si-"

Aspen quickly cut him off by grabbing his head tightly and causing it to heat up. "Shut it, you perverted cat," she demanded quietly. Aspen was normally a very patient person, but Jean had been grating on her nerves ever since she had arrived with his perverted comments and questions.

Jean gasped in pain as his feet danced on the table while he tried to get out of Aspen's grip, "Alright! Alright! I'll stop!" he pleaded. Aspen figured that he had learned his lesson and let go of his head. Jean quickly hopped over next to the window and tried to see his reflection in it, "You burnt my fur..." he quietly pouted before hearing a bell ring in the kitchen, causing Jean to hop off of the table and run into the kitchen as Aspen sighed in relief.

As Jean entered into the kitchen he saw his partner, Sean Clement, load a few plates onto a tray before picking it up. Sean was a tall young man, standing at 6'6" with a slender build and somewhat messy black hair and bright, sky blue eyes and his guild mark was on the back of his right hand in white. He was currently wearing a chef's outfit since he took a job as a cook for Yajima. Most members of Undine's Cove knew Sean as a Lightning Mage, but he had another magic that he was far more skilled at, but didn't want to use. Compared to Jean, Sean was his exact opposite, especially when it came to women. While Jean was a pervert towards them, Sean was always respectful of them.

Sean turned around when he heard Jean enter the kitchen and he bent down onto his knees to hand him the tray, "What happened to your fur?" he asked after noticing the singed fur on Sean's head.

"Oh that?" Jean replied while rubbing the back of his head, "It was just from that last tray of hot food," he lied so that Jean wouldn't know what he was up to.

Sean's eye twitched, "Jean," he began, "You shouldn't bother women so much, especially if they're more than capable of hurting you," he looked at Jean who just quietly stood there after being scolded with a smile on his face.

"Do not attempt to scold your Grandfather!" he suddenly screamed while jumping in the air and waving his arms and legs around before landing back on the ground, "Honestly, the nerve of the youth these days. Presuming themselves good enough to scold their elders," Jean grumbled as he took the tray as Sean sighed while watching him exit the kitchen.

Over by one of the stoves, Yajima smiled to himself after listening in on the conversation between the two mages, "It seems that Hargeon is much more lively now, Makarov."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I spent approximately 8 hours and 30 minutes writing and editing this chapter, in one sitting I might add.

Anyways, there's Chapter 2, hope you enjoyed it!

Also, please remember to have patience if your character hasn't showed up yet, I plan on introducing about 5 characters every chapter (not counting Exceeds).

I'll try to have the next chapter up sometime this week, I need a small break before I jump back into writing, so I'm going to use tomorrow as a day to do other things rather than working on Undine's Cove.

Please remember to review!

Your host,

dreadburner94.


	4. God Slayers, Fables, and a Healer

**A/N: **And here we are again everybody! I have for you today, Chapter 3!

Sorry about the wait, when I originally went to write this chapter I had such a hard time getting it started and when I eventually got something written down I hated it, so I scrapped it and started the chapter over after reworking some things. And then I got my hand hurt pretty badly so I couldn't type very well without my hand screaming at me to stop (still hurts actually, and a few of my fingers may or may not be broken since it is unusual for them to still be hurting, but there is pretty much nothing that can be done about broken fingers), so I've been typing in little bursts, which has affected how quickly I've gotten this chapter out, and how long it is.

Now then, since someone has asked me about my scheduling of putting up new chapters, I've decided to address that first thing. For the foreseeable future, I plan on putting up one chapter a week, during the week (Monday-Friday), and not on any set day. And of course there may be some weeks where I decide to post 2 chapters, or even none at all if I wind up being to busy to work on the story. Also I refuse to write if I'm sick since I'm never able to focus when I don't feel good and anything that I write when sick is bound to be terrible. Also, I refuse to write on the weekends since those are the days that I've decided to devote to things that I want to do without worry of what the next chapter is going to be like since I'll be focusing more time during the week to planning out and writing the story. I hope that answers any questions about my writing schedule for the time being.

Now then, I'd like to thank Saiyan-Styles, Falling Lanterns, WrittenWhim, WaterDragonMaverick, Taliaem, lexlovesya, MyDearWatson, PrinceOfTheMatrix88, Asher Grey, LightandDarkHeart, potentialauthor18, UnderTheDeepBlue, Hikari, and Hawk725 for their reviews.

**Saiyan-Styles- **I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter and I hope that you enjoy this one as well!

**Falling Lanterns- **I'm glad that you liked the chapter! Yeah, I really liked writing Jean since he's such a strange character and we'll eventually go more into more detail of his and Sean's past. Yup, a mission for Team Camille, although we won't get to see it for a while since they won't arrive in Acalypha Town for a while since it's more than a days trip, which gives me plenty of time to introduce everyone. Hope you enjoy the chapter and how I introduced Roseala, Kimmy, and Jericho!

**WrittenWhim- **I'm glad that you enjoyed Jean, it seems that a lot of people have enjoyed his character so far. Now regarding the rest of the review, this is my first story so it's to be expected that I don't quite get something down just right, but I am trying to improve and I'll try my hardest to do better with introducing all of the characters, and I know that it'll be hard to get around to going into detail with all of the characters, but I feel that I'm up to challenge and if I need help, I've got some people to rely on for that help. Anyways, I ask that you please have patience with me as I write since I'm still trying to figure out all the different characters, as well as trying to figure out exactly where I want to take the story after a certain point. Now then, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**WaterDragonMaverick-** I'm glad that you liked the introduction for your characters! And it's going to be a little while until we see some actual combat in the story since I want to introduce everybody first, but I'm excited for when I do get to that point and I hope that I can pull it off. Anyways, I hope that you enjoy this chapter!

**Taliaem- **I'm glad that you've enjoyed the story so far, and I've got to say that one of the biggest perks to writing an OC guild story is seeing all of the different ideas that others come up with (which, I won't lie, is part of the reason why I chose to write an OC guild story). Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**lexlovesya- **I'm glad that you like all of the characters introduced so far and I hope you enjoy this chapter and how I introduced Ziv and Zain!

**MyDearWatson- **I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter and the introduction of your characters! Like I said, I originally went through a few different ideas before settling on using that one to introduce them, so I'm glad that it worked out! You know, I never realized the two being similar to Gray and Natsu until you mentioned it, but if they do turn out like that it would be like Gray and Natsu swapped personalities since Jace is more like Natsu than Fareth is even though he's a Fire Dragon Slayer. I'm glad that you liked the three of them together, Jean is (from what I've gathered from his profile) a character that never learns when it comes to women, so it's certainly a possibility that he'll wind up furless one day. Anyways, I hope that you enjoy the chapter!

**PrinceOfTheMatrix88- **Glad that you enjoyed the chapter and I hope that you enjoy this one too! And we'll eventually see what's up between Rayner and Ajax.

**Asher Grey- **I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter, and yeah, like I said earlier, one of the biggest perks about writing an OC guild story has got to be seeing all of the other people's ideas and characters. Hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

**LightandDarkHeart- **I'm glad that you like Reno and Jean, and if you didn't gather it from last chapter, that was actually a jar of rum that Reno broke in the last chapter, thus my one good use of that quote that I'll never be able to use again, ah well, it paid off it seems. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**potentialauthor18- **Yup, and the length of time required to write the chapters has only grown since the prologue, I think that took me 3 hours and chapter 1 took me 6, although this one took a little less than 8 hours. But anyways, lame puns are perfectly acceptable here in the A/N's and in the reviews, they just become unBEARable if I use them too often in the story unless they're part of a character's personality. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**UnderTheDeepBlue- **I hope that paragraph at the beginning of the A/N answers your questions about my writing schedule, and if you're wondering why I decided to not write on the weekends there are 2 reasons for that. The first being that sometimes I have to go on the odd road trip over the weekend like the weekend before last, and the second being that I just want a few days where I don't have to think about the story or what I'm going to do since this is incredibly stressful for me (which is why I think that the original draft of this chapter wound up so terrible, I was too stressed to write well so I had to take a few days off to recuperate, and then I got my hand hurt (have you ever tried to type when a few of your fingers may or may not be broken? It really hurts), I have to worry about whether I got the characters down right, what people think about the story so far, whether people can make sense of my writing or not, how to accomplish an idea in the future and many other worries and issues that I have to address or fret over when working on the story, so I just wanted a few days in my schedule where I wouldn't have to worry about all of that and to just recuperate and relax. Now if my schedule changes (and I know that it'll change this fall for sure, but I'll talk about that when it's closer) I'll be sure to try and let everyone know for sure since I have declared a set, yet loose schedule that I will be working under. Now then, please have patience and thank you for understanding. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Hikari- **I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter so much, and don't worry about the SAO reference, it's a pretty good anime. And it's fine if you're not able to read a chapter right away, I understand if you have things that keep you from doing so right away. Also, if by Yama you mean Light Hikari (since that was the name of the OC you submitted), you'll just have to wait and see. Now before I forget, you mentioned a Yumi/Yami in the profile that you submitted in your first review, if you want her to appear in the story, you'll eventually have to let me know whether you want me to make the profile so that the details in it remain a secret, or if you're okay with making it yourself and submitting like you have, leaving all the details where people can see them. Or you could make a profile and submit it via PM, also you never stated where Light's Undine's Cove guild mark is and what color it is. Whatever you want to do is up to you. And what am I going to do about you posting multiple reviews for one chapter? Absolutely nothing. Now then, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Hawk725-** Glad that you liked the chapter! Hope you enjoy this one as well!

**Credits:**

**Caleb Pherl- Reitzel-chan**

**Hughes Franklin- Joshua1277**

**Zain McSolas- lexlovesya**

**Ziv McSolas- lexlovesya**

**Roseala Grimmtear, Kimmy, and Jericho- Falling Lanterns**

I **DON'T **own Fairy Tail!

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

Jace and Fareth exited the small jungle, the sun beginning to set overhead as they walked towards the guildhall.

"Yo! Salina!" Jace called out as he approached the bar with Rave on his shoulder and Fareth not far behind him, "Back from the regular meeting already? How'd it go?" he asked as he sat down at the bar.

Salina nodded before answering, "The meeting went alright, but it could've gone better," she said with a downcast look, "Twilight Ogre is still refusing to have some lenience with Fairy Tail's debt," Salina looked over at Fareth who had sat down next to Jace and had a perturbed look on his face after hearing the news, "Oh, but don't worry! We'll make sure that Twilight Ogre stops bothering Fairy Tail so much," she said quickly in an attempt to make Fareth feel better.

Jace turned towards Fareth, "That's right... you used to be a member of Fairy Tail weren't you?"

"Yeah, but I'd rather not talk about it," he answered quietly as he watched Rave jump off of Jace's shoulder and onto the bar before noticing that Jace's arm was bleeding, "Hey Jace, your arm is bleeding," Fareth pointed out as he gestured towards the cut in his sleeve.

Jace looked down at his arm, "Oh, you're right," he said before looking back up, "But it's just a small cut, so no big deal."

"Are you sure about that?" a voice from behind him asked.

Jace and Fareth turned around to see the guild's resident healer, a 27 year-old man named Caleb Pherl. He stood at 5'8" with a slim and wiry build and pale skin. He had short spiky red hair and chestnut brown eyes. Caleb was usually always wearing a white dress shirt under a long, sleeveless blue coat that reached down to his ankles and had a pocket on the back of the waist, as well as a pair of black pants that were held up by a brown utility belt that he used to carry his equipment and a pair of straw sandals on his feet. He also wore a pair of rimless glasses and a rope necklace that had a bronze key on it that had several runes inscribed into it. Caleb was a practitioner of Healing and Support Magic and his guild mark was on his right hand in white. As the guild's resident healer, Caleb felt that all of his guild mates well being was his responsibility, and he took that responsibility very, very seriously.

Jace paled as he looked up at Caleb, knowing that he had heard him disregard his small injury, "I-I-I mean that I'll get it looked at right away! I swear!" Jace stuttered out nervously as he recalled all the times that Caleb had hunted him down after missions and training sessions to have his injuries treated.

Caleb sighed as he pulled out some disinfectant and began treating the wound, "By the way Salina," Caleb spoke up as he worked, "Have you seen Rayner around? He's late for his check-up."

"He just left with his team about half an hour ago," Salina answered as she cleaned the mugs left over from Ajax, Reno, and Leon, "I believe they were going on a mission to Acalypha Town."

Caleb's expression quickly changed to one of annoyance after hearing that Rayner left Hargeon to go on a mission without getting his check-up, "He knows how serious his condition is, yet he still insists on behaving so recklessly," he mumbled as he finished bandaging Jace's cut, "You need to talk some sense into him, or have Camille do it, since it's obvious that he won't listen to me."

Salina looked down at the ground with a downtrodden look on her face as she thought about the young man's condition, but then looked up when she heard thunder rumbling in the distance, "Whoops!" she laughed nervously as she looked at Jace and Fareth, "Please don't discuss what you overheard here today, for the sake of Rayner's privacy," she asked the two young men with a polite smile.

"Sure," Jace answered with a curious look, "But what's wrong with Rayner?"

"That's for him to say," Salina responded quietly as she went back to cleaning the mugs, avoiding eye contact with the two young Dragon Slayers.

**. : + : .**

Hughes Franklin looked up at the sky from his position on the bench as he noticed it begin to be cloaked in clouds unusually fast, "Must be Salina," he said under his breath as he heard thunder crack.

Hughes was a 19 year-old Acid Mage that stood at about 5'8" with a fit build. He had yellow eyes and black hair that was dyed green at the tips. He was usually always seen wearing a green shirt with a hood on it, with black track pants and white shoes. His guild mark was green and on his left shoulder.

Hughes pulled up his hood as it started to rain, knowing that it wouldn't stop until Salina's mood brightened. He had decided to visit Hargeon's park that day with his teammates, but it was obvious that they would need to go elsewhere for the rest of the day. "Hey! Ziv! Zain!" he called out as he stood up and looked around for the siblings.

"Hughes! Over here!" he heard one of teammates call out as he began walking towards where he heard his teammate call, to find the two of them standing under a tree near the fountain in the middle of the park.

He looked over at the person who called out to him, a 15 year-old named Zain McSolas who stood at 5'4" with a strong build for someone of his age and stature and tan, freckled skin. He had short, messy, spiky hair that was a fiery red and stone gray eyes. Zain was wearing a white t-shirt with khaki shorts and black sneakers at the moment, and he always had a silver necklace that had a sword-shaped pendant on it that could be transformed into a sword for him to use in combat. Zain was a Moon God Slayer and he had moon-shaped tattoos on his hands that allowed him absorb moonlight, and his guild mark was a dark red and was located on his left shoulder. Zain wore a bright smile on his face as he continued to call out to his teammate.

Next to Zain was his older sister, Ziv McSolas, who was 17 years old and only stood at 5'2" with an hourglass figure and porcelain skin. She had long, wavy black hair, but it was usually kept in a braid, and large gold colored eyes with long eyelashes that always seemed to hold a hint of sadness in them. Ziv was wearing her usual white tank top that ended just bellow her belly button with a pair of jean cutoffs that reached down to her knees and golden sandals, and around her neck was a necklace that had a gold heart-shaped pendant on it that had a picture of her family in it. Like Zain, Ziv was also a God Slayer, but she was a Sun God Slayer and she had sun-shaped tattoos on her hands that helped her to absorb sunlight, and her guild mark was on the right side of her neck in light blue. Ziv also had a scar on her left thigh that she tended to keep covered up.

Hughes noted to himself that Ziv looked at bit agitated before walking over to them, "There you two are," he said with a smile to match Zain's, "We should probably find somewhere else to hangout for the rest of the day."

"Why don't we go get something to eat then?" Zain suggested as he walked up to Hughes, "Sis has been kinda grouchy ever since it started raining," he whispered in Hughes's ear with a smirk.

"Zain! Why'd you have to tell him that?" Ziv complained as she walked out from under the tree with a small blush on her face.

Hughes smiled to himself as he watched the siblings bicker before speaking up, "How 'bout we head over to 8-Island then, we can get something to eat," he said looking at Zain, "And get out of this rain," he said turning towards Ziv. He watched them both give him a nod before they heard another crack of thunder.

"Can we get out of this rain now please?" Ziv asked with an agitated look, before the trio set off towards the restaurant.

**. : + : .**

Roseala Grimmtear wore a curious look on her face when she realized that some of her guild mates were getting on the train that she had just exited, "I wonder where those three are going?" she asked herself as she watched Camille board the train with her teammates.

Roseala was a young mage at the age of 15 and stood at 5'2" with pale skin and a flat chest. She had long white hair that reached down to the back of her knees and large purple eyes. She was wearing a large purple sweater that was a few sizes too big, with the sleeves falling past her hands, a blue miniskirt, black stockings, and pair of brown boots. Roseala also wore a blue lachrima orb on a necklace and a blue ribbon headband. Roseala used Fable Magic, which allowed her to summon characters from a book of various fables and fairy tales that she kept in a brown leather book bag that she currently had thrown over her shoulder. And two of her characters were following her at that moment, both of them looking equally out of place in the train station.

The first one was called Kimmy the Mouse, she was a small girl with short gray hair and brown eyes, but her most noticeable features were her gray mouse ears and tiny mouse tail which stuck out of her gray dress.

Standing next to Kimmy was a large man with green hair and green eyes called Jericho the Tortoise. On his back was a large brown turtle shell and underneath it he wore a brown vest and cream colored khakis.

"I-it's raining out, Roseala-sama," Kimmy said in a quiet voice that was nearly inaudible in the busy train station.

Roseala was pulled out of her deep thoughts when she heard Kimmy speak, "Oh," she said as she looked outside, "I guess we should hurry back to guild then."

Jericho then took the time to speak up, "So long as you don't let the time get ahead of you in your rush, Roseala," he advised. Roseala stared at Jericho, wondering what that exactly meant, before setting off towards the exit of the station to begin her trek through the rain.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I wrote this chapter with an injured hand, so this chapter was a bit shorter than the last two, but I was determined to get a chapter out this week.

So yeah, there's chapter 3 and once again, sorry about the wait. A lot of stuff happened, plus the injured hand. So I hope you enjoyed it!

And as I said in the first A/N, I'm gonna try to make this a weekly thing, but I'm gonna be kinda busy next week, so we'll see.

Please remember to review!

Your (injured) host,

dreadburner94.


	5. Beanie Guy and the Initiation Ritual

**A/N: **Well, here we are yet again! I have chapter 4 here for you today!

I don't think that I have anything in particular to talk about today... so anyways, I'd like to thank Falling Lanterns, WaterDragonMaverick, PrinceOfTheMatrix88, Stormhawk99, WrittenWhim, MyDearWatson, lexlovesya, Joshua1277, Reitzel-chan, potentialauthor18, Hikari, and Asher Grey for their reviews!

**Falling Lanterns-** Well it was a bit less of a wait this time! And my hand actually still hurts, which isn't all that fun, but it's pretty much just a dull ache now. Anyways, I'm glad that you liked Caleb, he's a pretty fun character to write that pretty much everyone in the guild fears in some way or another. So yeah, he's pretty much the "Erza" of Undine's Cove.

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Yeah I have to say that I've received a lot of interesting characters for this story, but I'm glad that you think the siblings are interesting and that you found the interactions between Jace and Caleb to be funny.

**PrinceOfTheMatrix88- **I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter, and we'll just have to wait and see what condition Rayner has... Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Stormhawk99- **I'm glad that you liked how I've used Fareth so far, and I plan on having him open up more as time passes, since he's still so new to the guild, and there are a few ideas to make that happen. Hehehe... Anyways, don't worry, I have someone in mind for him that I think fits the bill for him. I'm glad that you've enjoyed it so far and I hope that you enjoy this chapter as well!

**WrittenWhim- **Well, I do appreciate the help in any case. But I'm glad that you're still enjoying the chapters and I hope that you enjoy this one too!

**MyDearWatson- **I'm glad that you found all of the characters introduced in the last chapter interesting! And yeah, Caleb's a pretty interesting guy, and not many people in the guild know of Rayner's condition, as you might've gathered by how Salina asked Jace and Fareth not to discuss what they overheard last chapter, so most likely, Ajax is unaware of it like most of the member's of Undine's Cove. I'm glad that you like the God Slayers and Hughes, and no, Ziv does not like the rain at all. Roseala does promise to be entertaining, but we haven't even seen half of her characters yet, so there's more to come! Anyways, I'm glad that you liked the last chapter and I hope that you enjoy this one as well!

**lexlovesya- **It's always good to hear that I got the personality of a character down, it's especially good when it's two characters though! I'm glad that you liked Hughes as well, originally I had planned on just having the McSolas siblings work by themselves, but then I decided that it would be better if I added Hughes into the mix as well. I hope that you enjoy the chapter!

**Joshua1277- **I'm glad that you like Hughes intro and the team that I placed him on. And I'm glad that you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope that you enjoy this one as well!

**Reitzel-chan- **I'm glad to hear that I got Caleb's personality down perfectly so far! And we'll eventually find out what's wrong with Rayner, but I'm sure we can agree that he's in for some hard times when he returns to the guildhall. Well I'm glad that you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope that you enjoy this one as well!

**potentialauthor18- **I'm glad that you enjoyed Caleb's character so much! He seems to have been well received by lots of other people as well. Hope you enjoy the chapter and how I introduced Ladon!

**Hikari- **I'm glad that you enjoyed the last chapter, and I wouldn't say that I really identified the publish dates, more like I said when I would be working on the story and might possibly post a new chapter. But, anyways... I certainly know what it's like being the new kid in school, it was never easy and it always took me a long time to make friends. Even so, I managed to make it through, so good luck to you! I'm sure you can do it! Now about the next part, I actually know next to nothing about the Hunger Games, I, for some reason, just never got into it (I don't really know why either, when I seemed to only hear good things about it). So I really wouldn't know what I'm doing if I were to make a character description, sorry. Yeah, I was pretty disappointed with how SAO ended as well, but I really enjoyed the first half, but then it was just kinda meh during the second half. Anyways, thanks for sending in the location and color of Light's guild mark! I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Asher Grey- **Like I said earlier, I've received a lot of interesting characters, and a lot of interesting kinds of magic. Some of them I just sit there and think "Why didn't I think of that?", or sometimes I realize that I would've never of even thought of them. Well I hope you enjoy the chapter and how I chose to introduce Alistar!

**Credits:**

**Jayne Satsuki- QueenKazza**

**'Beanie Guy'- dreadburner94**

**Wilhelm- M-Anonymous**

**Alistar Thorn- Asher Grey**

**Reginald Ladon- potentialauthor18**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

The Light Mage, Jayne Satsuki, walked through the wet streets of Hargeon as the skies began to clear and the clouds began to turn all sorts of vivid colors in the sunset. She looked up at the sky and smiled brightly at the picture painted into the sky, "It's beautiful," she said quietly to herself, still smiling brightly with wide eyes.

Jayne was rather small for a 17 year-old, standing at 5'1" with pale skin and a small and petite build that had an average amount of curves. She had long, vibrant white hair that curled slightly as it fell down to her elbows and dark, brown eyes. Jayne typically was seen wearing a dark red, high-waisted skirt over a pair of black leggings and a gray, strapless top with a black vest that had round, golden buttons sewn onto it. On her feet was a pair of brown combat boots that she would often claim fit any situation. Lastly, Jayne's guild mark was on her upper left arm, just above her elbow.

Jayne stood there, admiring the sunset for a little while longer before she heard a man call out to her, "Hey! You there!" the man called out as Jayne turned around. A little ways away, was a tall man standing at about 6'3" with long red hair that was tied into a loose braid, but most of his hair was covered by a dark gray beanie. The man was wearing a long, navy blue coat that had black trim, over a black dress shirt and a pair of dark gray pants tucked into tall, brown steel-toed boots, and he had a large sword strapped to his back by a large, brown leather belt.

The man continued to approach Jayne, "Excuse me, but you're a member of the local guild, right?" the man smirked as he stopped near Jayne and reached into his coat pocket.

Jayne just nodded a 'yes', slightly taken aback by the man who was now towering over her as she looked up at his face, which had a scar running across it and his hair fell over his left eye, the one that she could see being a dark blue in color.

"Good," he responded while holding an envelope out to her, "Can you make sure that this gets delivered to Camille Arturia?" the man asked as Jayne examined the envelope which had, _To Camille Arturia, _written on it in surprisingly neat and fancy handwriting.

Jayne's face reddened as she looked at the envelope, the many possibilities running through her head in quick succession, "OMIGOSH!" she yelled out as she swiped the envelope from the man, "Yes I'll deliver it Beanie Guy!"

"...Beanie... Guy?" the man said quietly to himself, shocked at the girl's sudden change in personality, "Well... whatever. So long as it gets delivered," he mumbled as he watched the girl run off towards the guildhall, "I probably should've mentioned that I saw her leave town, otherwise I would've given it to her myself," the man shrugged as he began smirking again and began to walk towards the western edge of town.

**. : + : .**

Wilhelm sat out on one of the rock walls that formed the cove, he had taken refuge from the storm under a tree that had strangely been able to grow there.

Wilhelm stood at about 6'3" with a slightly muscular build and shoulder length black hair that was slightly spiky. He had dark blue eyes and his guild mark was on his right shoulder in black. Wilhelm was currently wearing a gray, button-up shirt under a long black coat with a pair of jeans and a pair of black boots. Wilhelm was also one of Undine's Cove's two Darkness Mages, and thus he tended to seclude himself during the day when he wasn't out on a mission.

Wilhelm sighed as he closed his book and looked up at the budding tree, remembering what Salina had said about it.

"_That tree is like a beacon of hope. It symbolizes that life can thrive in even the bleakest of situations. Please, I want all of you to remember that," _Wilhelm sighed again as he thought about what she meant, she didn't seem to be talking to anyone in particular, but he knew that it was important. Wilhelm quickly hopped onto his feet and stretched, and then walked over to the edge of the cliff and looked down into the cove, where he could see one of his guild mates running towards the main building in what seemed to be a panic, but he lost interest after he realized her to be one of the guild's Light Mages.

"Well, I should probably head back anyways," he sighed, "It's a long walk down."

**. : + : .**

"Saliiiiiiinaaaaa!" Jayne yelled as she ran towards the bar, "B-Beanie Guy! L-love letter! CAMILLE!" she continued loudly before ending with a happy squeal.

Salina stared at Jayne for a little while as Caleb sat and rubbed his ear after Jayne screamed in it, "Excuse me?" Salina asked.

"A guy told me to give this letter to Camille! And it has such fancy handwriting so it has to be a love letter!" Jayne explained without hardly taking a breath, "See?" she said as she held out the envelope.

Salina took the envelope with out saying anything as she looked at the handwriting, "This looks like her master's handwriting," she mumbled, "You said Beanie Guy, right?" Salina asked as she watched Jayne nod in affirmation enthusiastically, "Well then this is a letter from her master, which it isn't odd that he asked someone to deliver it since Camille isn't in Hargeon right now," she explained as she watched Jayne's excitement fall.

"Oh," she said in disappointment, looking down at the ground, "Wait a moment... Then why did he need me to deliver it if he was already in Hargeon!?" Jayne yelled, once again in Caleb's ear.

"Most likely because you seemed convenient to use as a messenger," Caleb answered calmly as he continued to rub his ear, "He's the type of man to do something like that if it would save him some effort," Caleb explained.

"Wait, so you're saying that this guy is Camille's master? He doesn't sound anything like her!" Jayne shouted in disbelief, "Camille would've done it herself every step of the way!"

"Well we can't judge a book by it's cover," Salina started with a small nervous laugh, "He is actually a good man, and he does care for Camille like a father. He's just a little rough around the edges."

**. : + : .**

"Wow," Rayner said with a small laugh, "You really do skip drunk and go straight to hangover don't you Camille? And you only had one mug too," he continued with a snicker.

"Hrgh... quiet... you," Camille said as she held her head in pain, "Just... be quiet." Camille's tie was disheveled and the top few buttons of her dress shirt were undone as she wore her suit jacket on her head to block the light from hitting her eyes.

"Be quiet?" Rayner asked with a snicker as the trio exited the train in Magnolia.

"Hit him... Miriam... please" Camille asked miserably as she flinched in pain from the noise of the crowd around them.

"M'kay," Miriam answered before smacking Rayner in the back of the head.

"Ow! What was that for?" Rayner asked while holding the back of his head.

"She asked me to," Miriam answered quickly, "And toughen up Rayner. I didn't hit you that hard," she finished as she pushed her glasses up against her nose.

"Well you three are certainly as energetic as ever!" a smooth voice called out to them.

All three mages turned and saw one of Undine's Cove's S-Class Mages, a 19 year-old man named Alistar Thorn. He stood at about 5'11" with a thin, athletic build and he had crimson hair that was swept to the right and amber colored eyes. Alistar wore a black long coat, that was red on the inside, over a red dress shirt that was lazily worn and a pair of black jeans that had a chain coming of them. Alistar used a type of magic that he called, Seven Deadly Masks, which granted him different powers based on the mask he wore, and each mask being more powerful than the one before it. And lastly, his guild mark was on his right hand in black.

"Ugh... Alistar... perfect," Camille moaned as she tried to stand up straight and not look pathetic, "What do you want," she said while trying to not sound like she was in pain.

"This'll be good," Rayner smirked as he sat down on a nearby bench, with Miriam following suit to keep an eye on him.

"Well I just couldn't help but notice you three get off the train," Alistar started, "So I figured that you three were going on a mission, but I also couldn't help but notice that you seemed to be in a bit of pain. So I got concerned about your well-being, Camille."

Camille flinched in pain before answering, due to the train behind her blowing it's whistle, "Please... I don't need someone like you... worrying about me," Camille said in a shaky voice, "I'm perfectly fine."

"Well, seeing as how the train just left without me, I guess we'll all be bunking together tonight!" Alistar said somewhat cheerfully as he watched Camille begin to look sick as she ran over to a garbage can to empty the contents of her stomach out, "It's not that disgusting of a concept, is it?" he asked as he looked over at Rayner and Miriam.

"No, she just has a hangover," Rayner answered with a shrug.

"Although the idea isn't appealing at all," Miriam added as she pushed up her glasses again.

"A hangover? She drank alcohol?" Alistar said quietly to himself, ignoring Miriam's harsh comment, "Well I guess I ought to help get her to the inn then," he said as he walked over to Camille.

"I'm fine... I'm perfectly fine... I don't need help," Camille sobbed from her position next to the garbage can as she tried to stand up.

"Oh come on Camille, it's not like we're going anywhere tonight," Rayner said as he stood up and walked over to Camille to help get her on her feet, "Acalypha Town is a whole day away on foot, and no more trains will be running tonight, so swallow your pride and accept his help for once," Rayner said as he chided her like an older brother.

Miriam to by to the side and watched the scene, beginning to think that she needed to give Rayner more credit to his character. _"He might be an idiot," _she thought, _"But he's a kind idiot if nothing else."_

"What? Now you act like you're drunk?!" she heard Rayner complain as she came out of her thoughts to see Camille sobbing uncontrollably, "And now you're emotional too! Great!"

**. : + : .**

Jace, Fareth, Zain, and Hughes snuck through the halls of the men's dormitory, quietly headed towards they're objective.

"Why are we doing this again?" Fareth asked in annoyance.

"Cause you haven't done it yet," Jace answered quietly.

"Yeah, every guy who joins Undine's Cove does this," Zain continued, "It's a tradition."

"Who the hell would think up something like this for a guild tradition?" Fareth hissed while losing his patience with his three guild mates.

"Rayner started it," Hughes explained, "And as a tradition set by one of the guild's founders, we have to respect it."

"And not respect him at any other time?" Fareth asked, now definitely annoyed with the three men.

"Pretty much," Jace answered with a snicker as he saw the door they were looking for, "Alright, Rave should've already unlocked the door for us, so go and wake him up Fareth."

"Fine," he huffed as he walked towards the door, "But only so that you guys quit bugging me to do this," he said as he slowly moved his hand towards the doorknob, with a strange feeling of fear coming over him.

"What's wrong? Open it," Zain whispered as he saw Fareth gulp.

"Come on Fareth! Do it," Hughes quietly cheered as he watched Fareth begin to break out in nervous sweat.

Fareth quickly closed his eyes before grasping the doorknob, and he began to slowly open them again as he started to turn the doorknob.

"Come on Fareth!" all three men yelled out suddenly, startling him and causing him to quickly push the door open, slamming it against the wall.

"Darkness Magic! Devour!" they heard a man yell as a large, black snake that glowed with a pale, almost white, purple glow shoot out from the room and envelope Fareth before exploding, sending the unsuspecting Fareth flying against the hallway wall.

Sitting on the bed in the room was a skinny and pale 18 year-old man named Reginald Ladon. He stood at 5'10" and had short and ragged black hair that stuck out in almost every direction due to sleeping so much. He had small black eyes with skinny pupils that always looked bored, and he seemed to always have a displeased frown on his face. Ladon wore a simple, yet interesting attire, consisting of a sleeveless gray v-neck shirt, deep purple sleeping shorts, a pair of rice sandals, and a black, cloth headband that he would slip over his eyes when he was sleeping. The most interesting part though, was the black, full-body sleeping bag that he usually had draped across his shoulders like a hooded cape. Lastly, Ladon was Undine's Cove's second darkness mage and his guild mark was on the palm of his right hand in red.

Ladon simply stared at Fareth before using his magic to grab the door and slam it shut before going back to sleep.

"He's going to be mad when he wakes up, you know that right?" Hughes asked while they all stared at Fareth's burnt, unconscious body.

"Yeah, isn't everybody mad after they wake up after doing this?" Jace responded as he continued to look at Fareth.

"We should probably take him back to his room at least," Zain suggested as he took a step back after seeing Fareth's hand twitch.

"Hmm? Where you going?" Jace asked as he watched Zain continue to step back, with Hughes now joining him in retreating from Fareth.

"Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!" Fareth yelled as he came to, ramming Jace in the back with a flame enhanced headbutt before sending him flying out of the dormitory in a pillar of flame.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there it is, chapter 4! Hope you enjoyed it!

Anyways, in case any of you were wondering exactly who 'Beanie Guy' is, he's Camille's master, so he'll pop up again later in the story, which is why he's mentioned up at the top in the credits as one of the 5 introduced characters. Next time we see him though, I'll be using his name, since that will be his more official introduction.

Also, I think there will be two more chapters of introductions, one for the guild members who are more active at night (which will be next chapter), and then another chapter for the rest of them. And then there are guild members that will be introduced a bit later in the story, so don't worry, their time will come! I just have to get to it first...

I remember that there was something that I wanted to talk about in the A/N now. If any of you ever have any ideas for a mission or something, don't be afraid to send it, I need all the help I can get since I've started to gather ideas for missions.

Anyways, please remember to review!

Your host with the most,

dreadburner94.


	6. S-Class Mages and a Will-O-The-Wisp

**A/N: **And today I bring you yet another chapter! Chapter 5!

This chapter has been swimming around in my head for a while now, so I'm glad that I'm finally able to write it down. So hopefully I'll have an easier time gathering ideas for future chapters, cause it seemed like I could only think of ideas for this one and stuff that'll happen a looooooong time from now (as in after X791 GMG's), as well as stuff for a new story. And for those of you who haven't seen it's title on my profile, as of right now, it's title is going to be, "You Pierced My Heart Like a Blade". But I think I'm going to wait until after I finish the next chapter before I begin the actual work on it.

Oh, I should probably mention this, but the original idea for Reginald's introduction last chapter came from potentialauthor18, I just added a little bit to it. So all credit for that scene pretty much goes to him.

Well, anyways, I'd like to thank PrinceOfTheMatrix88, QueenKazza, Stormhawk99, MyDearWatson, WaterDragonMaverick, Falling Lanterns, Asher Grey, LightandDarkHeart, Joshua1277, lexlovesya, potentialauthor18, Hikari, and UnderTheDeepBlue for their reviews.

**PrinceOfTheMatrix88- ** Yeah it's a pretty messed up tradition the guys have got going in Undine's Cove, but when you get a bunch of guys together they tend to do stuff like that a lot. Well I hope you enjoy the chapter and how I introduced Arashi!

**QueenKazza- **I'm glad that you enjoyed how I portrayed Jayne in the last chapter, she definitely seemed the type to quickly jump to conclusions when it comes to stuff like that. Well I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Stormhawk99- **I'm glad that you liked what I did with Fareth there in the last scene, he's a character that I feel that I have to find ways for him to get dragged into trouble, since he doesn't seem to be the kind of guy to cause it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**MyDearWatson- **I'm glad that you like 'Beanie Guy's' introduction, as well as Jayne's, and she is a pretty excitable girl. Well, I'm glad that you think Wilhelm is interesting so far and we'll get a little more insight on his character this chapter as well. I'm glad that you liked Team Camille's section as well! Like most of the parts that make up my chapters, that was originally going to be much different. But I'm glad that you liked Alistar also, to be honest, the banter between him and Camille remind of Camille and 'Beanie Guy's' relationship, which is probably why she's too stubborn to accept Alistar's help willingly. Great, now I want to write a scene with both Camille and Beanie Guy in it, but that won't happen for a while unfortunately. Oh? I managed to get a Fairy Tail feel for that last part? Well that's what I was aiming for, so I'm happy to hear that it turned out that way! I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **I'm glad to hear that you liked that last scene so much and I can't seem to think of any canon characters with their guild mark on their hand either. Well, anyways, I hope that you enjoy the chapter!

**Falling Lanterns- **Well I'm happy that you liked the last chapter and that you think Ladon is cool. And no, Camille cannot handle alcohol in the slightest amount, unfortunate for her, fairly entertaining for the rest of us. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Asher Grey- **Yup, when it comes down to it, Jayne will often come to some pretty strange conclusions (usually something that has to do with romance). And 'Beanie Guy' is actually one of my favorite OC's that I've ever made, so we'll definitely be seeing him again later on in the story, but we'll also be hearing from him some in his letters to Camille. He's in another story, but it'll be interesting to see how I write him myself when the time comes for it. And yeah, I was pretty happy when I got both light and darkness mages for the guild. I'm glad to hear that you liked the scene between Team Camille and Alistar, I was a bit worried about how it turned out actually, and no, Miriam doesn't really like Alistar that much, but she's a pretty difficult person to get along with. And lastly, I'm glad that you liked the last scene as well, and like I said at the top, that scene was potentialauthor18's idea, I just added the meat to it. Well I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

**LightandDarkHeart- **I'm glad that you liked that scene so much! And yeah, poor Fareth, but he managed to get back at the guys in the end. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Joshua1277- **Well I'm happy that you enjoyed the last chapter and the guys bonding with their strange tradition. Hope you enjoy the Chapter!

**lexlovesya- **Yeah, the tradition sounds like a really bad idea, but then they're a bunch of guys, so of course they're gonna do it. Anyways, I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter and I hope that you enjoy this one as well!

**potentialauthor18- **Well I'm happy that you liked the last chapter, and yeah, Alistar is a pretty interesting character and I could still go and elaborate on the contents of Camille's stomach if you want. Just kidding of course. Anyways, Jayne is pretty bright, bubbly and rainbows, but as usual, there is more to her character than her first appearance says. And I'm glad that I seem to have Ladon down so far personality wise, but then again, sleepy, angry, then sleepy again is a pretty hard cycle to mess up, so we'll see how I do after this chapter. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Hikari- **Well I'm glad that you liked the last chapter so much. And I'm currently watching D. Gray-Man, Noragami, Magi, K, and Darker than Black, but Fate/Zero is one of my favorites and I also enjoyed The Devil is a Part-Timer! when I watched it a few weeks ago, I also enjoyed Fate/Stay Night as well (and I'm in the process of reading the Fate/Stay Night visual novel), and then there's Soul Eater if you haven't watched it yet. So yeah, I've watched quite a few animes, including Guilty Crown (but I just kinda stopped watching it half-way for some reason, I don't know why). But if I had to suggest one more anime, since the Persona geek in me demands it, I have to recommend Persona 4 The Animation, and I did really enjoy it. Anyways, I hope that you enjoy the chapter!

**UnderTheDeepBlue- **It's alright if it takes a while for you send in a review, I'm just happy to get one. Anyways, the thought has crossed my mind before, but there's an event that I want to do before I do anything like that. Well, I'll keep those two little things in mind, and I'm glad that you enjoyed how I portrayed Jean and Sean! Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Credits:**

**Horace Quinn- writtenmindset**

**Arashi Cage- PrinceOfTheMatrix88**

**Malon Qoun and Willow- Reitzel-chan**

I Don't Own Fairy Tail!

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

It was bright out that night. The full moon hung eerily in the sky, hardly obstructed by clouds despite the day's earlier storm, as most of the member's of Undine's Cove had retired to their dorm rooms. But Salina Velvet sat on the bar, waiting for her guild member to wake up for the night while humming a tune and twirling her oil-paper umbrella over her head. Salina looked up and stopped humming when she heard footsteps on the beach, seeing Sean and Jean walking towards the main building with a sack.

Sean had changed into his usual attire, a long black, hooded coat over a white polo with black pants and brown boots. While Jean was now wearing his blue robe and pointy, yellow wizard's hat, but his head seemed to be strangely crispy and black.

Sean walked up to the bar and set down the sack, which by the smell of it, Salina determined that it had food from 8-Island in it.

"Here," Sean said as he set down the sack, "This is what you usually get those two right?"

Salina picked up the sack and looked into it, seeing that the orders were right, "Yup," she answered, "Now can you go deliver these to Reginald and Horace?" Saline asked with a polite smile as he she saw the two of the cringe when she said 'Reginald', "Or you could deliver it to Horace, Sean, while I make Jean deliver this one to Reginald? Judging by his fur, he deserves a little bit of punishment," she said with a strange air of innocence."

"True, he wouldn't stop pestering Aspen today at the restaurant, Not to mention Ziv as well," Sean mumbled in agreement.

"WHAT!?" Jean screamed, "You can't make me do that Sean! I'm your grandfather!"

"But I can," Salina said sweetly as she handed him Reginald's food, "And you wouldn't disobey me would you?" Jean groaned as he looked down at the ground in defeat as he took the food and began trudging off towards the male dorm. "And Jean!" Salina called out, "After you give Reginald his food, can you tell him to come see me?"

Jean simply looked back with a horrified look and slowly nodded before resuming his walk towards the dorm.

"Well, I best go and deliver this," Sean said as he picked up the sack with Horace's food in it and began walking towards the male dorm as well.

Salina nodded as she heard Yune yawn and stretch, "Oh, good evening, Yune," Salina said as she turned towards the young girl."

"Good evening master," Yune said sleepily as she rubbed her eyes.

"Yune," Salina said in slight disappointment after hearing Yune call her master.

"Oh! How did I get here?" Yune asked as she realized that she wasn't exactly where she last remembered her being.

"I found you lying on the ground asleep on my way back to the guild, Yune, so I carried you back here," Salina answered, while still hoping that Yune would catch her mistake.

"Well thank you very much, Master," Yune said as she bowed her head slightly.

"Yune," Salina said once more in disappointment at hearing Yune call her master, causing the girl to look at her in slight confusion, "Nevermind, your welcome Yune," Salina said with a sigh, "Just try not to fall asleep when you're out on walks anymore."

**. : + : .**

Sean had split ways with Jean shortly after entering the dorm, he assumed that his cat-like partner had reached Ladon's room by now, but he had yet to hear any explosions, so he also assumed that Jean was chickening out. Sean thought about the man he was delivering food to, although he had rarely seen the man, since he tended to stay locked up in his room despite being one of the guild's five S-Class Mages, but he knew that he was definitely an odd man obsessed with his scientific research, which was definitely an odd thing for a mage to be obsessed with in the first place.

Sean exhaled deeply as he knocked on the man's door a few times before hearing a muffled, "Come in," from the rooms inhabitant.

"Food delivery," Sean called out as he opened the door, seeing the various beakers filled with gas spread out across the room before his eyes fell on the man standing at a workbench while working on some project that Sean couldn't even begin to understand.

Horace Quinn was a tall 34 year-old man, who stood at 6'4" with a thin build, but he often seemed taller as Sean realized that the man was floating a bit off the ground rather than standing. The man had blue eyes and messy gray hair with a large gray mustache, which he says turned gray early due to stress. Horace was wearing a long, open green trench coat over a long-sleeved, blue button-up shirt which was worn over a gray t-shirt with a pair of dark brown pants and black loafers. Horace used Gas Manipulation and Gas Creation magic, which allowed him to create and manipulate various gases as he saw fit, and it was also the center of his scientific research into gases.

Horace turned and looked at Sean with a deranged smile, "Your just in time to witness a momentous discovery, boy. Come, stay and watch!" he said as Sean set the sack down on the bed, since every other surface was covered in beakers. As Sean walked over to Horace, he turned his attention back to the experiment, just in time to see it go horribly wrong as it started smoking and fizzing, before exploding in Horace's face with a large plume of smoke. Horace held his arm up and removed the oxygen from around the flame, killing the fire, as he coughed from the smoke, "Curses, there must be something wrong in the formula still," he started muttering as he seemed to have forgot that Sean had even entered the room and delivered his food.

"I guess I'll just leave you to it then," Sean mumbled as he turned around and left the room, not caring if Horace had forgotten about his food and him as well.

**. : + : .**

Jean stood and stared at Ladon's door. He was already considering just leaving the food in front of the door, but after seeing the scorch mark that resembled Fareth on the wall, his legs wouldn't move as he remembered the time he had first met Ladon, and had become a scorch mark on that very spot.

"Maybe I should politely knock and run," Jean pondered to himself as he continued to sweat nervously, "Yes... I'll just... knock," he said as he slowly approached the door and began to bring his paw up to the door to knock as it was opened by Ladon himself, "AAAAAAAGGGGHH!" Jean screamed as he jumped back away from the door in fear, "Don't eat me! I taste horrible!" he whimpered as he held up the sack that had Ladon's food in it.

Ladon simply looked down at the Exceed before grabbing the sack that had his food in it, "Anything else?" he asked as he looked down at the crispy cat with a disapproving frown.

"S-Salina wanted to see you," Jean whimpered as he shook in fear.

"Hmm..." Ladon hummed as he turned to walk down the hall towards the dormitory entrance as Jean passed out from fear.

**. : + : .**

Arashi Cage walked through the thick jungle, listening to the different types of life as he walked through the moonlit paths.

Arashi stood at 5'10", slightly above average height for a 19 year-old, with a lean and semi-muscular build. He had smooth and silky, straight black hair that covered the right side of his face and was cut just above his shoulders and dark brown, droopy eyes that had black flecks in them. Arashi wore a gray tank top that was fitted with a white trim under a black, hooded cloak that had gold embellishments on it with white pants and black steel-toed boots that had spikes on the soles. Arashi was also hardly ever seen without a gold pendant that had a red gemstone set into it. His guild mark was on his left pectoral in black and he also had a scar shaped like an "X" over his left eye. Arashi was also one of the guild's S-Class Mages, and he used a magic called Aether Magic, which allowed him to utilize magic in the form of a red, moldable energy that could take many forms.

Arashi continued walking through the jungle as he cleared his head from his last mission, which was to originally seal off a monster infested cave, but Arashi had gone above and beyond the requirements and had simply defeated all of the monsters instead. He kept walking along his usual path until he heard someone cheerfully laughing, a bit too cheerfully to be sane in his opinion. Arashi looked up into the trees to find the source of the laughter, his eyes falling on one of his guild mates, a strange girl named Malon Qoun.

Malon stood at 5'7" with deathly pale skin and a slim build with long black hair that fell down to her lower back. She had purple colored eyes that had red, tear track tattoos underneath them with her guild mark on her shoulder in black. She wore a silver kimono that was adorned with purple spiral patterns and she had a red obi around her waist with a pair of white socks and wooden sandals on her feet. She also had a chain wrapped around her left shoulder and upper torso that had a hook on one end of it. Malon used Phantom magic, which allowed her to utilize the abilities of ghosts and phantoms.

Floating next to Malon was a small, purple Will-o'-the-wisp that she called Willow. It would often make a high-pitched cooing noise that only she could understand due to her magic.

"Ufufufu," Malon laughed from her position in the tree, "Don't you know that it's dangerous to take walks in the jungle at night?" she asked, "The deceased spirits may want your company as they slumber," she said as Willow cooed happily next to her, as if affirming her statement.

Arashi simply huffed and kept walking, not having anything to say, or wanting to say anything to the girl in the tree.

"Although," the girl started, "With an attitude like yours I don't think that they'd really want your company, you'd probably turn into a wraith," she added with a snicker as Willow cooed along.

Arashi stopped in his tracks before turning to face Malon, "Quiet, your annoying," he said simply before turning back around and continuing to walk along his normal path through the woods as Malon simply laughed in response to his comment, causing Arashi to glare back at where Malon was sitting, only to find out that she had vanished. "Creep," he muttered as he resumed his walk.

**. : + : .**

Reginald walked out of the dormitory and towards the main building, seeing Salina, Yuuna, and Wilhelm sitting around a table, "You called?" he asked with a yawn as he sat down his sack and sat at the table.

"Yes," Salina answered, "Reginald, I want you to go to Shirotsume Town," she said as she watched the expression on the man's face fall as he was eating.

"A mission?" he asked.

Salina nodded before continuing, "You'll be working closely with a small group from Lamia Scale and I want you to take Yune and Wilhelm with you," she said as she gestured towards the girl sitting next to her and the man on the other side of the table next to Reginald, "You'll be hunting a small dark guild that has been causing trouble, too much trouble for one of it's size."

Reginald sighed as he looked at his new teammates, "And you two are okay with this?" he asked them.

"Yeah," Wilhelm answered, "It'll be good to work with you again, Reginald."

"Of course!" Yune answered, "The Master asked me to go, so I'll go."

"Yune," Salina said, with the faintest hope that she would catch her mistake this time.

"Oh! I mean Salina asked me to! Sorry," Yune apologized.

"When do we leave?" Reginald asked, having made up his mind.

"Tomorrow evening at 5 P.M.," Salina answered, "Or should I say this evening," she added with a small laugh at the fact that it was well past midnight.

"Then I should probably go back to sleep then," Reginald said with a sigh, dreading the fact that he would have to wake up so early.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there's Chapter 5! Hope you enjoyed it!

I was originally going to introduce another character this chapter, but I couldn't make it work out well, so he's been pushed back into next chapter.

Also, since he's asked me to advertise this chapter, check out Hawk725's story called Dragon Ball Z Galaxy if you're into DBZ.

Well, I don't think that there's anything else that I want to talk about, so please remember to leave a review!

Your Host,

dreadburner94.


	7. The Ace, an Angel, and Three Loners

**A/N: **Well hello once again my dear readers! We hit the one month mark a few days ago, so Chapter 6 is here for you today!

So this chapter took a little longer for me to work out than the last few, but I have reasons for that of course. One! I've had a cold since Saturday, so I didn't feel like working on it. Two! I was waylaid by an anime called Durarara! And three! This chapter has given me all kinds of trouble throughout planning it, since this is the last chapter of what I've come to call the "Introduction Arc" and it will have 6 characters introduced in it (not counting Dante since he comes with Roseala). However, at this point there are 3 more character that will need introduced, 2 of them in the next arc (which I've come to call the "First Mission Arc") and the last one a few arcs after this one. So I suppose there is a reason four, being that I've been planning out missions and organizing the characters into teams rather than focusing on planning the chapter.

Whelp, that time of the A/N again. I'd like to thank Falling Lanterns, PrinceOfTheMatrix88, WaterDragonMaverick, Saiyan-Styles, potentialauthor18, MyDearWatson, ViennaxSky, Reizel-chan, Hikari, UnderTheDeepBlue, and lexlovesya for their reviews.

**Falling Lanterns- **To be honest, getting the characters work together like they have been has been kinda hard. It's lead me to pushing some characters intros back again and again just because I haven't been able to get them to work just right or because they didn't really fit with what was going on in the chapter. I don't even think that I could fit every single character in one chapter really. Anyways, yes, Lamia Scale will be the first canon guild introduced and there is a reason for that, but what that is you'll have to wait and see. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**PrinceOfTheMatrix88- **I'm glad that you liked how I introduced Arashi. Honestly, quiet characters like him are kinda hard to write since they don't say much under normal circumstances, but I have to find a balance that still let's them show up and talk just enough to still fit with their profile, as well as to have enough presence to be memorable and not be forgotten, but then again, actions often do speak louder than words. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **I'm glad that you found the characters introduced last chapter to be interesting, I hope that you find the ones introduced this chapter to be interesting and that you enjoy this chapter as well!

**Saiyan-Styles- **I'm glad that you liked that little interaction between Jean and Ladon. I hope you find this chapter to be enjoyable as well!

**potentialauthor18- **I'm happy that you're excited for the joint mission between the two guilds, there's a reason I chose Lamia Scale, but you'll all learn that during the mission. Yeah, I picked Wilhelm and Yune because I figured that they had the best chemistry with Ladon out of all of the other OCs. I'm glad that you liked the delivery scenes as well, as short as they were, and Horace definitely comes across as a mad scientist. Malon and Willow are definitely interesting characters, given that one is a deceased spirit and that the other one can talk to spirits, but Willow is definitely a cute little wisp. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**MyDearWatson- ** Sean and Jean certainly seem to be popular, and I'm glad that Yune lived up to your expectations. Well, from what I've seen of Sera, her and Horace definitely have similarities and they're both definitely eccentric in their own ways as well. The great thing about writing Malon is that I can write dark humor with her since it's part of her personality, if you couldn't tell from her making a joke about Arashi dying last chapter. Yep, Lamia Scale will be the first canon guild introduced in this story, and it'll be interesting to see how they get along with the 3 from Undine's Cove. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**ViennaxSky- **Yeah, there's just that special something about those kinds of ramblings, and Horace is definitely the kind of guy to do something like that, but you'd have to pry his attention away from his research first. And the groups magic was part of the reason why I grouped them all together, since their magic was all darker in nature, it added to their chemistry, which I felt that those three would work best if they worked together. So it was all planned, more or less. Anyways, reading the reviews is something that I, for the most part, enjoy doing, although sometimes I can't think of what to say. So I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Reitzel-chan- **I'm glad that I got Malon down well, although I have to admit, I nearly forgot about Willow and I had to go back and add the little wisp in after I had already completed their section, but I remembered Willow in the end and that's what matters! Right? Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Hikari- **Well you can look forward to her being introduced in this chapter at least, that's right, her introduction is this chapter. Well for your idea, should I use it, I would probably use a different character than Jace, who also happens to be an Ice Mage, and you'll meet him this chapter as well. Ugh... math tests... too many bad memories associated with that phrase, I'm so glad I didn't take any math classes my senior year, hopefully it went better for you than it ever did me, I'm horrible at algebra. Anyways, I hope the chapter lives up to your expectations.

**UnderTheDeepBlue- **Well as you might've noticed, canon guilds will be popping up from time to time, whether it be on a joint guild mission, or through the GMG's, and as I said in a pm, finding out the exact date of Fairy Tail's return is a bit of a problem, solely because there is no official return date, all we know is that they were found in April, X791. But in any case, as I've told a few people, I don't know exactly how much we'll see Fairy Tail after the X791 GMG's because Undine's Cove will be dealing with their own problems, but all of that depends on where the manga goes. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**lexlovesya- **Yeah, a lot of the characters have definitely been interesting, some have needed a bit more effort in figuring out what I want to do with them or how to use them, but they've all been fairly interesting in their own rights. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

Also, since I haven't said this in a while, if anyone has any ideas or suggestions regarding missions, your characters, things you want to see happen, an idea for a villain, or even a suggestion for a game in the X790 GMG's, please send them in a pm **only **(unless you don't have a profile, and even then I recommend that you create a profile since it makes things easier and they don't cost anything) so as to keep it a secret from the other readers, since I don't want future events to be spoiled.

Regarding the GMG's I will be picking the contestants myself (or in the story Salina will be choosing them), but I won't use the same character twice, so if your character is in the X790 GMG's, don't expect to see them in the X791 GMG's.

**Credits:**

**Jezabelle Justine- Believe in the Unknown**

**Kiyeda Hasanari- Taliaem**

**Kaiyo Atasume- Taliaem**

**Dante the Lion- Falling Lanterns**

**Light Hikari- Hikari**

**Haru Curio- PhantomvZero**

**Varic Tesla- M-anonymous**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6<strong>

Jezabelle Justine walked through Hargeon, the early morning sun shining down on the town as it's people began to leave their homes to begin their day as Jezabelle began walking down the path to Undine's Cove.

Jezabelle had a curvy and defined muscular build. Her face was slightly chubby looking though, with rose red lips, a small nose, and thin almond shaped, amber colored eyes. Her hair was a deep green with black highlights that was usually kept in a high ponytail. Jezabelle was a fairly tall woman usually, having a long torso in addition to long legs, but her height seemed to change in response to her magic, God Magic, which allowed her to take in the power of various deities, often changing her appearance and body structure accordingly. Jezabelle also utilized Rune Magic and she carried a size-changing, metal staff with her. Jezabelle wore a red, long-sleeved t-shirt under a black leather jacket with cut up, white jeans and dragon tattoo platform heels. She also wore spiked, cross earrings and silver dragon claw nail armor, and her guild mark, when visible, was on her left hip in green.

Jezabelle was also one of Undine's Cove's five S-Class mages, and this was reflected in how she acted as an older sister to some of the girls at the guild, despite her giving off the initial first impression of being a reserved person.

As Jezabelle walked into the cove, she saw many of her guild mates out and about, whether they were preparing for a day of relaxation or for a mission, mostly everybody seemed busy. As she approached the main building she saw that not everyone was as busy as she thought.

Ladon laid fast asleep in the middle of the floor, wrapped in his sleeping bag with his headband pulled down over his eyes. Jezabelle sighed as she carefully stepped over the sleeping man to approach the bar where Salina sat talking to Ajax and Reno as she held Leon.

"You two are going on another mission already?" Salina asked as she looked at the request form they had handed her, "You just got back yesterday," she added with a concerned look.

"Rayner left on a mission yesterday," Ajax answered, "Why would I let him try to outdo me?" he said as he took back the request form.

"But Ajax," Reno interrupted, "I want a day to stay in town and have fun at least. So what if Rayner went out on a job yesterday," she finished with a huff.

"Would it help if I told you that I picked a job out at sea?" he asked with a flat stare, knowing what her reaction would be to that.

Reno's eyes went wide as she took the request form from Ajax, her eyes somehow growing even wider as she saw that he was telling the truth, "One Sea Monster! No Problem!" she announced loudly with a laugh and a salute, "Who needs a break? Not me!"

Salina sighed as she set Leon back down on the bar before she slid off the bar to reach down and get the log book from under it. Salina lifted up the log book and set down with a heavy 'thump', before finding the entry regarding the job and filling out the necessary information, "Alright, you two are all set to head down to the port," she said with a look of worry on her face.

"Look," Ajax started, "We'll be fine, you seem to have forgotten that we used to do this all the time," he said with a confident smirk as Reno continued to dance with excitement behind him.

Salina nodded, "Alright, just be careful," she said as Ajax nodded in response before turning around to get Reno's attention so that they could get ready to go.

"Those two are the same as ever," Jezabelle said as she walked up to the bar as Salina hopped back on it to continue sitting.

"I just wish they would take a break every now and then," Salina sighed, "It's good that Ajax has such a healthy rivalry with Rayner, but they both tend to overdo it sometimes," she continued as she picked up her umbrella and opened it just so that she could twirl it above her head.

"Heh," Jezabelle laughed as she sat down on a stool near Salina's spot on the bar, "Those two remind me of a couple of guys I knew a few years back."

"Oh? Are you reminiscing?" Salina asked with a sly look on her face, "Just because your the second oldest woman in the guild doesn't mean you need to act like an old woman like me!" Salina laughed at the 24 year-old mage as she began to blush heavily in embarrassment.

**. : + : .**

Kiyeda Hasanari flew through the air, heading straight up in an effort to pierce the clouds and break through.

Kiyeda stood at 5'9" with a peach skin tone, bright bubblegum pink colored eyes that had a red outline to them, and long cherry pink hair that was purple near the tips that fell down to her thighs in long, cascading curls. The most remarkable things about her appearance though, were her the white, wolf-like ears sticking out of the top of her head, the blue cat-like tail that came out from under her qui pao dress, and her large topaz blue wings. She wore a white and gold qui pao dress, that had a black sash across it, with blue wooden clogs. Kiyeda was Undine's Cove's final S-Class Mage and she used Angel Knight Magic, which allowed her to use the powers of an angel for multiple purposes.

Kiyeda continued to fly higher and higher until she came into contact with some unknown force, sending her spiraling back down towards the earth as her wings vanished and faded away.

"So I still can't get back..." she said to herself quietly as she fell back down at an alarming speed.

Kiyeda continued to fall at an alarming speed until she was caught just before she hit the ground. Kiyeda opened her eyes to see the man that had caught her and recognized him as her teammate, Kaiyo Atasume.

Kaiyo was a very tall man, standing at 6'9" with apricot-ish colored skin and an average build. He had silver hair and yellow-orange colored eyes. He wore a black jacket with puffy black pants and black clogs, and he had a set of white headphones sitting around his neck. Kaiyo used Raven God Magic, which allowed him to call upon the power of the raven god for mostly combat purposes.

"Have a nice fall?" Kaiyo asked with a large smile as he held Kiyeda.

"EEK!" Kiyeda shrieked as she kicked Kaiyo in the face, causing him to drop her on the ground.

Kaiyo held his hand up against his nose in pain as it started bleeding from the kick, "Is that any way to treat somebody who just saved your life?" he asked as he searched his pockets for something to stop the blood flow with.

"I-I would've been just fine," Kiyeda stammered as she blushed, "But... Thanks," she mumbled.

"Huh, you say something?" he asked as he gave up his search for a cloth and settled for just pinching his nose to stop it from bleeding.

"Nothing," she answered quickly, "Sorry about your nose, let me fix it," Kiyeda offered as she lifted a hand to her eyes in order to collect a tear.

"Nah, it's alright," Kaiyo said as he stopped her, "You know I don't like to watch you use that spell, since I don't like to watch a woman cry, even if its to cast a healing spell."

"If you say so," she said as she lowered her hand, "But we should still head back to the guild so Caleb can tell you whether or not it's broken."

"Yeah, might as well," Kaiyo answered as they turned to walk back towards the guild.

**. : + : .**

Jace and Fareth sat on the roof of the male dorm, having just finished patching up the hole made in it from last night's shenanigans.

Jace stretched and let out a loud sigh before laying down on the roof, "Did you have to hit me while I wasn't looking?" he asked while he stared up at the clouds in the sky. Fareth didn't answer him as he joined Jace in staring up at the sky. Jace turned his head towards the Dragon Slayer, seeing Fareth still holding some of the nails in his mouth, "You're still mad aren't you?" Jace sighed as he realized that Fareth was using the nails as an excuse not to answer him, "Look, every guy in the guild has gone through that except for Horace and Caleb. So could you just chill? It was just a joke," he sighed as he tried to explain to no avail.

"Heeeey!" they heard a girl yell from down on the ground. Both Jace and Fareth sat up to see who it was, and they both recognized her as Malon, "Have you two finished patching up the roof!? Or did Fareth swallow a nail and die!?" she yelled from her position down on the ground while Willow cooed along with her.

"We're finished!" Jace answered, "And Fareth's just being Fareth is all!"

"Well can you two come down now!?" Malon asked, "Just don't slip and end up as stains!"

Jace quickly hoped up onto his feet, "You think I'm that clums-!" he started to say as he lost his footing on a loose shingle and began to fall off the roof.

"Careful!" Fareth shouted as he grabbed Jace by the back of his shirt, keeping him from falling to his predicted death, "Of all the times for Rave to be off fishing," he mumbled as he pulled Jace back onto the roof before lifting Jace over his shoulder and jumping down, unceremoniously dropping Jace on the ground after landing.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Malon laughed with her creepy smile on her face as Willow seemed to be laughing with her as well.

"Shut it you!" Jace yelled as he jumped onto his feet before turning to Fareth and laughing nervously, "Hehe, thanks man, I owe you one."

"More than one," Fareth answered with a straight face, "So what do you want Malon?"

"Ufufufu," she laughed, "How cold, I just had a job that might need two strong Dragon Slayers, but if you'd rather not eat and turn into dust I can find someone else."

Fareth sighed as he knew very well that neither he, nor Jace, had any money after paying to fix the damages to the dormitory, "What's the job?"

Malon and Willow both laughed in their own creepy ways before continuing, "The mission claims that there's a haunted forest filled to the brim with monsters and spirits that needs cleansing. Everyone that's gone in and managed to come back out alive have come back in fits of insanity, and many of them don't survive long after they're return," she finished with a large and creepy smile.

"Have you been spreading more ghost stories about yourself lately?" Jace asked, knowing how often the people in Hargeon mistook her for a ghost.

Malon laughed in response, Jace taking that as a 'yes', "But not this one," she said after she had calmed down enough to speak, "I've never been to the Worth Woodsea."

**. : + : .**

"So why is Ladon sleeping out here?" Jezabelle asked Salina, curiosity finally getting the best of her.

"He'll be going on a mission this evening and he said that he wanted to get as much sleep as possible before then," Salina explained, "So he just laid down and went to sleep out here to save time."

"I see," Jezabelle sighed while shaking her head at the sleeping man's antics.

"Jez-chan!" she heard a girl yell from behind her before she was attacked from behind with a tight hug.

Jezabelle looked over her shoulder to see Jayne hugging her and Roseala standing off behind her with one of her characters, a tall man called Dante the Lion that had lightly tanned skin, shoulder length brown hair, lion ears sticking out of the top of his head, and a lion's tail sticking through his jeans which he wore with an orange jacket.

"Oh, Jayne, Roseala, how are you two?" she asked while hoping that Jayne would ease up on the tight hug.

"Great!" Jayne answered brightly as she let go of Jezabelle, allowing her to turn around to face them.

"That's good," Jezabelle responded with a kind smile on her face as she looked at the two girls.

"You should be proud of Roseala," Dante said, "She recently returned from her first solo mission."

"You let her go on a mission by herself?" Jezabelle asked Salina in a startled tone.

Salina nodded, "I made sure the mission wasn't too hard, or dangerous," she answered.

"It's not like any mission I go on can really be considered solo Jezabelle," Roseala explained, "I'll always have my characters with me," she said as Dante nodded in agreement.

"Speaking of missions Jez-chan, you said you would take us on a mission before you left on yours two months ago," Jayne began, giving Jezabelle a hard stare, "And you said you would be back a month ago!"

"Sorry," Jezabelle apologized, "We'll go on a mission soon, I promise, just give me a few days to rest up."

"All right," Jayne said with a huff, "But you better not break your promise."

**. : + : .**

Light Hikari and Haru Curio sat on the beach, staring out into the cove while skipping stones that they found mingled in with the sand.

Hikari had long hair that fell half-way down her back and was kept in a side-braid with the bangs brushed off to the side of her face, covering one of her eyes, which were a pale yellow in color. She wore a navy blue hoodie over a white scoop t-shirt with a pair of dark wash jeans and combat boots, as well as a pair of fingerless gloves and a necklace that said 'Hikari' on it. Hikari was the guild's fourth Dragon Slayer, being a Light Dragon Slayer.

Haru Curio stood at about 5'8" with long white hair and white colored eyes that had star-shaped pupils. She wore a red t-shirt with a white jacket, a pair of pants, and white sandals. Her guild mark was located on the back of her neck in white. Haru had two types of magic, her first type being Green Wind Magic, which was a branch of wind magic that had special properties and magical effects in addition to the spells. Haru also possessed Gender Change Magic, which allowed her to change her body from a boy's to a girl's in order to gain a strength or speed boost.

Hikari threw another stone across the water before falling on her back to look up at the sky with a sigh, "I should go on another mission soon."

Haru let her arm fall down to the ground, "Yeah, I'm running low on money as well, so I'm probably going to set off tomorrow on some mission, although, where did Varic go?" she asked as a figure erupted from the cold water.

Standing in front of them was Varic Tesla, an Ice Mage. He stood at 6 feet even with a slim build and gray hair that fell down to the base of his neck while his bangs covered his left eye. His eyes were an icy blue color while his guild mark was on his right shoulder blade in white. He was currently wearing a pair of swim trunks that had a blue floral pattern on them.

Varic inhaled deeply as he walked out of the cold ocean water before he grabbed his towel off of one of the lounge chairs and sat down to dry himself off.

"I really don't understand how you can swim in this cold water," Haru mumbled in astonishment, "It's still too cold for any sane person to want to go swimming."

"Correction," Varic said quickly, "It's still cold enough to go swimming, any warmer and I'll melt from the heat."

"Must be an Ice Mage thing," Light mumbled as she remembered someone from her time before she joined the guild.

"Anyways, you two planning on going on a mission?" he asked as he dried his hair, "I guess you both plan on going solo again, not that I care what you do."

"Yeah," Light answered, "You know I don't like being surrounded by people, so going on missions is perfect for alone time," she explained.

"Can't argue with that," Varic said in agreement as he draped his towel on his shoulders and stood up to begin walking back to the male dorm.

"Guess I should go pick out my mission ahead of time," Haru sighed as she stood up.

"M'kay," Light responded as she picked up another stone and threw it across the water.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **That was my longest chapter yet, it took all day...

But anyways, I do plan on trying to make my chapters longer from here on out, so this was good practice.

So the first story arc is finished! Next chapter we start the First Missions Arc and we'll finally get to see some of the guild members on missions or set off on their missions since they're not all leaving at the same time and some are already on their way to their missions. So look forward to that!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please don't forget to leave a review!

Your tired host,

dreadburner94.


	8. The First Mission Story Arc

**A/N: **Hmm... choice number one or number two... then again there's number 3... Ah forget it! Chapter 7 is here for you today/tonight! Whenever it might be for you.

In case you were wondering what I was debating about, I was trying to decide what decision to make in the Fate/Stay Night visual novel, but as I am an incredibly indecisive person, I didn't make much progress... as in none at all.

Anyways, moving on from that slice of life, since we've gotten past the first arc I'd like to thank those of you who have favorited (is that a word?) the story thus far. So I'd like to thank Hawk725, LightandDarkHeart, M-anonymous, MyDearWatson, PhantomvZero, PrinceOfTheMatrix88, Red Bishop, Saiyan-Styles, SphereShadow, Stormhawk99, Taliaem, WaterDragonMaverick, WrittenWhim, potentialauthor18, and writtenmindset. Thank you all so much for favoriting (is that a word?) the story!

Now then, I'd like to thank Saiyan-Styles, WrittenWhim, Falling Lanterns, WaterDragonMaverick, lexlovesya, MyDearWatson, PhantomvZero, PrinceOfTheMatrix88, Reitzel-chan, LightandDarkHeart, Joshua1277, QueenKazza, UnderTheDeepBlue, Hikari, ViennaxSky, and potentialauthor18 for their reviews! They really help keep me going at times, they especially helped after the second chapter was posted since I was really struggling with whether or not I really wanted to keep doing this, so it's cause of all of you guys that I keep going!

**Saiyan-Styles- **I'm happy that you found the last chapter amusing, I hope this new arc can prove to be even better than the last!

**WrittenWhim- **Yes! We finally get to see the missions and all the action that comes with them! But just remember, that just cause someone isn't a Slayer, doesn't mean that they can't be as big as a hazard to what's around them as a Slayer would be, hehe.

**Falling Lanterns- **Well I'm glad to hear that the format I chose to use worked out well, but I really don't think that could even hope to introduce every character in one chapter. Although there were some points that I just briefly introduced a character, but I always tried to come back to them in the next chapter or so, but I really hope to give each character a real chance to shine this arc. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **You got a profile pic! And it's Jack Frost from Persona, my favorite game series! Anyways, yep, the various teams like Team Camille that have already embarked on their missions will be the first ones up to shine. But yeah, I'm hoping to be able to show some variation between Hikari and Sting, but I'll figure that out as I go.

**lexlovesya- **Missions! Action! Explosions! Hopefully I'll be able to get all of those things in this arc. Anyways, thanks for sending in that idea of yours, I'll be sure to figure out when exactly to use it.

**MyDearWatson- **Well Hello Once Again MyDearWatson! I'm glad that you liked Jezabelle, and it's definitely a good thing for her to go on a mission with Jayne and Roseala. Aye! Ajax, Reno, and Leon are all going on their first mission of the story and it's good to hear that I'm still doing a good job writing them. It's good to hear that you think that both Kiyeda and Kaiyo are interesting characters, as for what Kiyeda was doing, you'll just have to wait and see! I'm glad that you liked the scene between Jace, Fareth, and Malon! It was actually the scene that I had the easiest time with last time. And I'm happy to hear that the last three characters were interesting, I had a really hard time figuring out what to do with that scene, so it's good to hear something positive about it. But yeah, the characters are all pretty fun and interesting, so it'll be exciting to see where I take this from here.

**PhantomvZero- **I'm glad that you like everything so far, and I hope that you can continue to keep on liking every bit of the story!

**PrinceOfTheMatrix88- **I'm happy to hear that you liked the chapter, as well as the bromance between Jace and Fareth. And Jezabelle is a fairly interesting character as well, with her magic being quite interesting. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Reitzel-chan- **Yes! We're finally moving on to missions! And I'm glad that you like the way that those three interacted with each other, cause they'll be sticking together for a little while at least. Also, is it strange that I listen to "This Is Halloween" whenever I write Malon? I just find it fitting for reason. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart- **Yep, all of the magics are pretty interesting, and we'll finally be able to start seeing some of them in action finally! So I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Joshua1277- **All of the mages are pretty interesting in their own ways, and each one is unique in their own way as well. But we'll see some of those magic types in action soon!

**QueenKazza- **I'm glad that you liked Jezabelle so much, and she is fairly protective of the younger girls in the guild like an older sister would be. And thanks for the compliment, but I don't think that I'm that good of a writer, at least not yet (although you did manage to inflate my ego a bit), I always figured myself more of an ideas guy that can come up with fairly good ideas and characters. Anyways, plenty of missions, action, and magic to come in the next few weeks, starting with this one!

**UnderTheDeepBlue- ** The chapters will hopefully grow larger bit by bit from here on out, so you'll see plenty of it in the future for certain. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Hikari- **I'm glad that I got Light down perfectly so far, we'll see if I can keep it up. I chose to put the scene on the beach simply because there hadn't been a scene on the beach so far, so I'm happy to hear it turned out well (especially since I had such a hard time with that scene). *Adds Exceed to profile collection. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**ViennaxSky- **I hope I'm portraying all of the characters well (and to anyone who reads through all of these responses, please politely tell me if my portrayal of your character is off a bit), anyways here's the next chapter for your reading pleasure.

**potentialauthor18- **I'm happy to hear that I've gotten you pumped up for this chapter, I just hope I can pull it off since this is my first time doing anything like this. So I hope the chapter lives up to your expectations!

Now before I begin, I'd like to send a shout out to **lexlovesya** for starting up their own original guild fic called Phoenix Refuge. If you haven't already checked it out, go and give it a try and a review. Although I'm not sure if they're still accepting characters or not. While I'm on the topic, check out and leave reviews for Thunder Stone by **MyDearWatson **and Dragon's Dogma by **Cat the Alien**, both are really good original guild fics so far and you may be able to learn some more about Beanie Guy ahead of time if you read Thunder Stone.

Now just one more thing, there will be a rather important announcement at the end of the chapter, nothing bad mind you, I just want to make sure you all see it.

I DON'T OWN FAIRY TAIL!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Arc 2: The First Mission Arc <strong>

**Chapter 7**

"Quit dodging the question Alistar!" Camille shouted as she stepped off of the train, "Why are you even here?"

"You said I could come," he answered as he stretched after being cramped up on the train ride to Acalypha Town, "What? You don't remember? Miriam and Rayner can vouch for me if that's the case."

"You did," Rayner affirmed with a smirk as Camille looked over at him.

"Although you were drunk at the time," Miriam added with a sigh.

"Drunk?" Camille questioned, "But if that's the case you can't hold me accountable for what I said!" suddenly remembering her anger towards the man, while poking him in the chest for emphasis.

"Don't worry, I won't take any of the reward money," he said in an attempt to calm down the angry woman, "I just want to see how strong you three are. Especially since you've added a new team member since that one time"

Camille's eyes went wide as she remembered how Alistar had beat herself and Rayner in the guild's first S-Class exams last year, "Why you..."

"That one time?" Miriam asked with a puzzled expression crossing her face.

"It was before you joined the guild," Rayner answered, "Alistar beat us in the guild's first actual S-Class exams last year, we'll tell you about it later," he said as he walked over to Camille and Alistar in order to stop them before they had an impromptu rematch in the train station, "All right! That's enough ladies," he said loudly as he clapped his hands to get their attention.

"Ladies?" Alistar mumbled with a puzzled look as both he and Camille turned their attention towards the young man.

"You two can save your cat fight for after the mission, after all, you didn't let me have my rematch with the glass bastard back at the guild," Rayner continued as he had managed to catch their attention, "So it isn't fair if you can have your rematch if I couldn't have mine," he finished with a smirk, feeling rather proud of himself for coming up with he thought was a convincing argument.

Camille sighed as she stepped away from Alistar and calmed down, "You're right Rayner, I was being immature and selfish," she said as she bowed deeply in apology before straightening back up, "Come on, we have a mission to do."

"I can't believe that worked," Miriam said in astonishment.

"Hey, I have my moments," Rayner responded while still retaining his smirk, "And besides, all you have to do is say that something she did was unfair and have a good reason for saying it and she backs down."

"Rayner! Miriam! Hurry up!" Camille yelled from the entrance of the train station.

"Coming!" Rayner yelled in response, "C'mon let's go," he said as took off towards the entrance with Miriam right behind him.

As the group walked through the town, they noticed a severe lack of stock in the stores scattered throughout the town, an obvious sign of the thieves raiding the shipments, and it only got worse the closer they got to the merchant's guild that hired them: Love & Lucky.

"This is a pretty big merchant's guild," Miriam said quietly to herself as she looked up at the tall white building that was decorating with a large, pink sign that had the name of the guild on it.

"This guild is famed for producing very successful businessmen and women," Camille stated as she noticed that Miriam was looking up at the building, "The most recent one being Jude Heartfilia, who up until X784, owned the Heartfilia Konzern before it was dissolved."

"You're pretty knowledgeable about stuff like this aren't you?" Miriam asked as she looked back down at Camille.

"Yes, but we shouldn't keep the client waiting anymore," she said as she walked into the building with Alistar and Rayner behind her, "Excuse me," Camille said as she approached the receptionist desk inside the building.

The small middle-aged woman behind the desk looked up upon hearing Camille speak, "Welcome to Love & Lucky, how may I help you," she said in a bored tone, as if this was simply a routine.

"We're from the Mage's Guild, Undine's Cove, we've come to accept your job regarding the shipment raids," Camille answered while pulling off her right glove in order to show her burgundy guild mark to the woman.

The woman's eyes went wide upon hearing that, "Please come with me," she said as she stood up and lead the group further into the guild before coming to an office, "The man inside will fully explain the mission to you and answer any questions you might have. Please, help the guild," she pleaded with a deep bow.

"Of course," Camille answered with a kind smile as she watched the woman head back to the reception desk before knocking on the office door and entering it upon hearing a muffled 'come in'.

As the group walked into the office they saw a tall, middle-aged man wearing an expensive suit with neatly trimmed blond hair and mustache, standing behind his desk while looking out the window.

"Ah, you must be here for the mission I posted," the man said as he turned around and saw the four mages, "My name is Jude Heartfilia, please, have a seat," he said as he gestured towards the four leather chairs in front of his desk.

"Thank you for your hospitality," Camille said with a small polite bow before she and her teammates took their seats, "My name is Camille Arturia and these are my teammates, Rayner Casimir and Miriam Krozenbell."

"How do you do?" Rayner nodded, "Don't mind Miriam's poor manners, she doesn't like people much," he added when he noticed that she wasn't saying anything.

"Shut up you idiot!" Miriam hissed before Camille sent both of them a hard stare that told them to behave themselves in front of the client.

"And I'm Alistar Thorn, I'm not part of the team, but I am tagging along for the mission."

"Well then, let's move on to the business at hand then," Jude suggested as he sat down in his own chair and bringing his hands up to his chin, "As you know, Love & Lucky has been plagued by thieves as of late. There hasn't been one shipment to or from the guild that hasn't been raided by them yet. So I wish for you four to accompany the next shipment out and stop the thieves however you can," he explained before standing back up and walking back to the window, "Not only does the welfare of the guild depend on your success, but also all of Acalypha Town's livelihood depends on it."

"We understand, may I ask some questions?" Camille asked as she looked up at the tall man.

"Of course," he answered simply as he turned around to face them again.

"What can you tell me about the thieves? How many are there?"

"As the request form mentioned, many of them are mages, but only a handful of them seem to be outstanding in any way," he explained, "Also, given their numbers and thoroughness, we believe that they are an organized Thieves Guild."

Camille sat there and took in all of the information, with her teammates watching her think as she processed the information, "One more thing," she spoke up as she came out of her thoughts, "Is there anything that they might be after specifically?"

Jude's eyes went wide as he realized something, "There is something that they might be after," he said as he opened a hidden compartment in his office floor, "A friend of mine recently left this here and he asked me to find a way to seal it away," he explained as he pulled out a long suitcase.

"What is it?" Miriam asked as curiosity got the best of her as all four of them leaned in towards the box Jude had placed on his desk.

"I dare not open this case, but all you need to know is that inside of this box is a dangerous magical artifact and it would be disastrous if it fell into the wrong hands."

"How bad are we talking here?" Alistar asked as he thought about the possibilities.

"The end of the world," Jude answered flatly with a hard stare.

"We understand," Camille responded, "When does the next shipment leave?"

"Within the hour, the receptionist will take you to it," he answered before he watched the group of mages get up to find the receptionist again.

Rayner watched the other three exit the room before him, but he suddenly stopped walking as he felt a strong pain in his chest and gasped, "Dammit," he cursed as he fell down to one knee and grabbed his chest, "Why now?" he asked as he began coughing.

"Are you alright?!" Jude asked as he ran over to Rayner's side and kneeled down next to him.

Rayner continued coughing as he felt his tattoo burn along his face and chest before the pain stopped suddenly, "I'm fine now," he said in a tired voice as he struggled to stand back up.

"Are you sure?" Jude asked as he noticed that the tattoo on Rayner's face seemed like it had grown larger, "What happened?

"It's nothing," Rayner answered quickly, "I have to go find my team," he said quietly as walked out of the office, limping slightly.

**. : + : .**

Ajax, Reno, and Leon walked through Hargeon's port as they looked for the ship mentioned in the request form.

"Shit..." Ajax cursed quietly, "Why do there have to be so many ships around?" The port was filled to the brim with various ships and vessels of all kinds of shapes and sizes, it made finding one specific ship a nearly impossible job, "Hey Leon, why don't you look from the air? Remember, you're looking for the 'Free Spirit'."

"Got it," Leon answered as he activated Aera and took off to find the ship.

"So what do we do?" Reno asked as she looked at Ajax with a bored look.

"We wait here so he can find us easier after he finds the ship," Ajax answered as he sat down on a nearby bench.

Reno's expression quickly changed to one of disappointment and boredom as she continued looking at Ajax, "But couldn't he just sniff us out? He is a cat after all," she huffed.

"Everything smells like salt and fish, even I couldn't sniff someone out in all of this," Ajax answered, "I've already lost track of Leon so we're going to sit here and wait for him."

"But that's boring," Reno whined.

"So find a barrel," Ajax answered flatly, knowing that that would give her something to do.

Reno's face instantly brightened at the mention of barrels, "Roger!" she shouted excitedly as she ran off to find a barrel.

Ajax spent the next 10 minutes reading a book that he kept in his back pocket, he was enjoying himself until he heard what sounded like an angry mob.

The Dragon Slayer sighed as he put away his book and stood up, "Now what?" he asked as he looked around, seeing an angry mob chasing Reno, who was surfing on a barrel straight towards him.

"Ajax! Over here!" Reno called out as she surfed towards him with an expression on her face that showed she was enjoying herself.

"What did you do this time!?" he yelled as he started running away from the mob, trying to keep pace with the barrel that Reno was surfing on.

"I dunno!" Reno answered happily, "I think it had something to do with a stack of crates."

"Of course, you destroyed a shipment didn't you?" he asked as Reno merely laughed in response, she was clearly having too much fun to care.

"Ajax! Reno!" they heard Leon call out as he came down from the sky and flew next to them, "I found the ship!"

"Great!" Ajax answered, "Take us there!" he yelled as they continued to outrun the mob through the large port, eventually finding the ship.

As Reno approached the ship, she leaped off of the barrel and onto the large vessel, letting the barrel roll into the ocean.

"Hey!" one of the crew yelled as Reno landed on the deck.

Ajax ran up to the captain, who was standing near the boarding ramp, "We're mages from Undine's Cove," he said in between breaths, "Are you ready to weigh anchor?"

"I suppose," the captain answered, a bit taken aback by Ajax's sudden question.

"Good, cause you might want to do that," he said as he and Leon boarded the vessel after pointing towards the mob.

The captain turned and looked at the mob before quickly following Ajax up the ramp, "Weigh anchor! Set sail quickly!" he ordered loudly as the crew began the preparations to prepare to set sail.

A little while after the boat was out on the open sea, the captain walked over to the two mages, "Name's Nils Crow, Captain Nils Crow," the man said while emphasizing the captain part of his introduction.

Ajax and Reno looked at the man, who appeared to be in his thirties. He had black shaggy, shoulder-length hair, and a scraggy beard. He was wearing a long black coat over a white, button up shirt with brown pants and black boots. He was also wearing what appeared to be a pirate hat, but it had a gold anchor on it instead of a skull and crossbones.

"My name's Reno Lozier!" she said happily, "And this is Ajax and Leon!" she said while gesturing to the two of them.

"Wait a moment, Lozier? As in Ricardo Lozier?" Captain Nils asked.

"Yep! That's my dad!" Reno answered, "Do you know him?"

"How can any Sea Captain not know who Ricardo Lozier is? He's protected these seas dozens of times with his Water Magic!" he stated in astonishment, "Just knowing that I have his daughter here fills me with confidence that those monsters don't stand a chance."

"So exactly what are we dealing with?" Ajax asked.

"Ah, right, we'll be headed west for a while, to where several vessels have disappeared from. The reports say it could be one of two things: A nest of sea serpents or the home of a kraken," Nils explained, "Either way, it'll be one hell of a fight."

"Are there any mages aboard besides us?"

"Well there's me, I know Lightning Magic, and then there's my son down below deck, but he's a good-for-nothing that gets sea sick easily," the captain answered.

Ajax looked out to sea as walked towards the edge of the boat, "I though I smelled something familiar..."

**. : + : .**

"That was unpleasant," Fareth groaned as he stepped off of the boat with Jace supporting him.

"You said that you didn't want me to get rid of your motion sickness for the ride here," Jace answered with a small snicker as he watched Fareth's face pale a bit.

"Ugh... I couldn't trust it to not be some sort of prank like last time," Fareth responded, "But where did Malon go?"

"I'm not sure," Jace answered as he sat Fareth down on a bench.

"I can smell her around here somewhere though, onii-chan," Rave said as he sniffed the air.

"Hey is he alright?" a man said as he walked up to the two of them, "I know a little cure for things like sea sickness if that's what's wrong," he said before he felt someone tap him on the shoulder, "Huh, what is it?" he asked as he saw Malon behind him, "Can I help you?"

"Would you like to see something strange?" she asked before she walked straight through him while laughing, causing the man to run off screaming.

"Damn you... Malon," Fareth groaned as she continued to laugh at the poor man.

"So where's the client supposed to meet us?" Jace asked the girl as she calmed down.

"Oh, him? He's supposed to meet us here with a carriage," she answered with a creepy smile as Willow laughed at Fareth's misfortune as he paled even more.

"Dammit all," Fareth cursed again, "Fine, you can use your spell on me when the carriage gets here Jace."

"Glad you saw reason Fareth," Jace said as he watched Fareth continue to squirm in pain.

"Nooo," Malon whined, "The only reason I wanted Dragon Slayers was to watch you squirm on the transports. You'll ruin all of the fun!"

Both Jace and Fareth gave the girl a blank stare, "Are you kidding?" Jace finally asked, "No wait, of course you're serious. You enjoy this kind of thing."

"Excuse me," they heard what sounded to be the voice of an elderly man behind them, "You three wouldn't happen to be from Undine's Cove would you?"

The three of them turned their attention to the source of the voice, revealing it to belong to a tall elderly man who had white hair and a white handlebar mustache. He was wearing a tan trench coat with black pants and brown loafers, and he wore a brown cowboy hat on his head.

"That would be us," Jace answered quickly before Malon had the chance to do something strange.

"My name is Jeorge Sanders," the elderly man stated, "I take it you three know what you've been hired for."

"Yep!" Malon answered as Willow cooed along with her, "The Woodsea is plagued with monsters, spirits, possibly a mage or two, or maybe even all at once!"

"You certainly seem excited," Jeorge said with a slight sweatdrop, "But if it's spirits then it's something probably best left to an exorcist."

"Don't you worry about that, Malon's an expert when it comes to things like spirits," Jace said with confidence.

"If you're certain," Jeorge sighed, "Well come on, the horse and buggy are just outside the port. I'll be taking you to the edge of the Woodsea."

"Alright then," Jace nodded before helping Fareth off of the bench, "Come on, I'll use the spell on you when we get there."

"There better not be any funny business involved," Fareth groaned as Jace slung his arm over his shoulder.

"Don't worry about," Jace smiled in assurance.

"No funny business at all," Rave added with a devious smile.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Well there's the first chapter of the second arc! I hope you enjoyed it!

Anyways, on to the little announcement. I've come to the decision that I will be doing omake chapters every now and then. I'll be using them to touch on certain character's past, to fit in scenes that otherwise wouldn't fit into the story, and to just overall sit back and have fun with the characters. The first omake will be about Camille and it'll happen before the X790 GMG's as a historical omake. When I do a historical one, it'll be before or after a part of the story that focuses on the character and since Camille has history in the city of Crocus, I'll be doing an omake chapter to expose some of her childhood. The other two types of omake chapters will appear when I feel like making one, with the ones that don't fit into the story otherwise will appear after Fairy Tail returns since most of them have to do with the missing members. So what do you think of that? Yea? Nay? Meh? Have an idea?

Now there's one more thing that I'd like from those of you who have submitted members of Undine's Cove. I'd like for you all to create a winter wear outfit for your character for when I eventually get to winter in the story, which won't be for a while, but I'd like to have them ahead of time.

Well, I hope you all liked the chapter! Please remember to leave a review and to check out the stories I mentioned!

Your Host,

dreadburner94.


	9. Horsey-kun and Jewul Poe Andi

**A/N: **Every day's great at your Junes~! I've had that running through my head pretty much all day yesterday and today. Hmm... Maybe I should play some more Persona 4 soon... or 3, either one is fun, but I have so many other games that I need to beat before I move on to something else. Anyways, chapter 8 is here today/tonight for your reading pleasure!

So I need to say what the overall plan is for the next few chapters. I will be handling the missions has they happen in more or less chronological order, which means more Team Camille, Team Ajax, and Team Jace until those missions are finished next chapter I believe. Then I'll be moving on to the next group of missions and so on until the arc is done (I'm not sure what I want to do next arc though). I'll also be checking in on the guild every now and then so as not to neglect the other characters. My reasoning for doing it this way is because not all of the missions are happening at the same time and it'd be confusing to say, write Team Camille's part and then time travel a few days into the future for Team Jezabelle's part, and then back to Team Ajax's part. Make sense? Cause this is what made the most sense to me, so it's what I'm doing.

Before I forget, there are two more types of omakes that I'll be doing. Holiday omakes, which I may write around certain holidays such as Halloween and Christmas, and Recent History omakes which will be about the time in between the prologue and chapter 1 (also, a certain character's historical omakes will revisit the prologue).

Now, I'd like to thank PrinceOfTheMatrix88, Saiyan-Styles, potentialauthor18, Stormhawk99, WaterDragonMaverick, MyDearWatson, Falling Lanterns, H8rslovemecauseI'mawesome, Reitzel-chan, and Hikari for their reviews!

**PrinceOfTheMatrix88- **Hehe, yeah, Camille and Alistar won't be getting along for a while. Partly because of their history, but also due to conflicts in their personalities. Anyways, I'm glad that you liked the omake idea and the last chapter as well, I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much!

**Saiyan-Styles- **I'm glad that you thought the chapter was funny. Malon is one of the most "out-there" characters that I've gotten so she's pretty fun to write since I can do all sorts of things with her. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**potentialauthor18- **I'm glad to hear that it isn't overwhelming so far and I'm hoping to keep it that way with the format that I'm going to use this arc. But yeah, Rayner's, yeah sure I'll call it an "illness" for now, could have something to do with his tattoo, but you'll have to wait and see for that. I literally had to force myself to not turn Nils into Jack Sparrow last chapter, asides for his introduction. I already used my one good PotC reference in Chapter 2. I don't know why either, but I figured that Fareth just has terrible luck and I love to pick on him for some reason or another, I really don't know why, it just happens. But I'm glad that you liked the omake idea. So anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Stormhawk99- **I don't know why, but I always seem to wind up picking on Fareth, I guess it's because I rated him as having awful luck due to his history. But yeah, I'm glad that you enjoyed the last chapter and I hope you enjoy this one as well!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Koromaru's cute, he made me want to get a Shiba Inu sometime in the future when I'm out on my own (which I would obviously name Koromaru and call Koro-chan), but Jack Frost was a good choice as well. To be honest, I'm surprised that no one said anything about Love & Lucky in the reviews up until now since it was kinda obvious what Merchant's Guild I was hinting about back when Team Camille took their mission. But yeah, since Jude dies a few months before April of X791, he'd still be alive at this point, so it does make perfect sense. And it'd be really, really sad if Rayner's condition killed him so soon, he'll be dealing with it for a while though and it'll definitely cause him problems in the future. Yes! Barrel Surfing! The best way for any real mage to pass the time! And you'll just have to wait and see what it is that Ajax is sniffing out. And well, Malon just enjoys that kind of thing, after all, does she really seem the type to say that she needs help without some kind of sick ulterior motive? Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**MyDearWatson- **I had actually been planning to use Jude in that scene ever since chapter 2, so I'm happy that I finally got to write that scene out (now if only I could write the scenes that have been floating around in my head that happen towards the end of the story... sigh). Yep, you got to see a little bit of Rayner's condition, and that wasn't even one of the more painful attacks, but yes, you will see more and learn exactly what's wrong with him. Cliffhangers: A writer's best friend and a reader's worst enemy, they are a true double-edged sword that are far too easy to use. But I'm glad that you liked Team Reno's scene so much! Well, the last time Fareth went along with what Jace said, he got blasted by some darkness magic, so he's still a little testy around Jace. But it is Malon that he should be watching really since you never really know what she'll pull.

**Falling Lanterns- **Well, as I said, I'll be using the historical and recent history omakes to shine some light on all of the characters' pasts, with the historical omakes happening either before or after a point in the story that focuses a bit more on a specific character, or when I feel it is appropriate to explain some of the character's past, such as why Camille's first omake is happening before the X790 GMG's because she is from Crocus. Whereas pretty much every other type of omake will just be happening when I feel like it and they'll pretty much be just like filler I think at this point where they happen, yet don't. But there might be some omakes that I reference back to, or have been referring to ahead of time (such as the Ladon Entry Ritual). But yes! That artifact is most likely what you think it is, although we won't see it ever again after this since that's something that Fairy Tail handles after their return.

**H8rslovemecauseI'mawesome- **I've no more plans to give up on this anytime soon, I managed to get over that little funk a while back with some help, but I'm glad that you like the story so much!

**Reitzel-chan- **I'm glad that you liked the chapter and I hope you feel better by now, cause it'd be a serious problem if you don't feel better by now.

**Hikari- **Who's getting an omake? Everybody! Every... last... one... which sounds a little daunting to me to be honest, but I said I'd do it and I'm gonna do it. But for now, Camille shall be my guinea pig since it's easiest to start with a character that I know best and created myself, speaking of which, I do plan on trying to communicate with the creator of the character when it's time for their historical omake, and when that time comes for a character I will let it's creator know ahead of time in a pm so that I can iron out all of the details of their history with their help. So at some point in the future, if you could create an account for that I would appreciate it deeply, otherwise I'll wind up having to do Light's historical omake on my own when I want the character's creator to be a part of that process. But anyways, is that just something your friend says? Or is that something directed at me? In which case I'm not that good (although I am my own harshest critic). Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Credits:**

**Gideon Valentine- WaterDragonMaverick**

**Jackson Queen- WaterDragonMaverick**

**Oliver Dodger- WaterDragonMaverick**

**Leif Crow- dreadburner94**

**Vladimir Schrodinger- WaterDragonMaverick**

"**Horsey-kun"- dreadburner94**

**Jewul Poe Andi- StitchedSanity**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 8<strong>

Miriam continued to walk behind the caravan with Camille, while Rayner and Alistar walked in front of it. Ever since Rayner had returned from Jude's office, Miriam had noticed that he seemed a bit weary and Camille had started intensely staring at the man not long after, as if he had done something wrong, but she hadn't said anything about it to him.

"Hey Camille," Miriam called out, waiting until Camille had turned her head towards her before continuing, "Is something wrong? You've been staring pretty hard at Rayner for a while now, did the idiot do something when I wasn't looking?"

Camille's expression briefly changed to one of shock before turning solemn, "I guess there's no point in keeping it from you anymore, even though Rayner didn't want you to know."

"Know what?" Miriam asked, feeling a bit irked that Rayner had been hiding something from her.

"Rayner... he's..." Camille had begun saying until she stopped suddenly, "Stop the caravan!" she shouted, "Somethings not right here!"

"So you noticed too Camille," Alistar said as he and Rayner walked over to Camille and Miriam.

Camille nodded, "And I believe that they already have us surrounded as well," she pointed out as she summoned Arturia's Tear in her left hand and she requipped into an outfit consisting of a partially zipped-up burgundy jacket that had black trim on it over a dark gray shirt and a pair of black jeans tucked into a pair of dark gray combat boots.

"Should I flush them out?" Rayner asked.

"No!" Camille answered quickly, "In your current condition, magic is the last thing you should be using. You know that it'll only make it worse when you've had an attack so recently, don't think that I didn't notice that your mark grew larger," she said quietly.

Rayner looked off to the side with a guilty look on his face, "So what's the plan then?" he asked.

"I don't think you'll be needing to come up with a plan!" a deep voice interrupted.

The group turned their heads towards the forested area to their right, seeing a tall, muscular man with dark skin and black cornrows step out of the woods. He had violet eyes and was wearing a fur-lined vest, combat boots and a pair of ripped jeans. He had a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his left shoulder and three dagger-shaped earrings in his right ear, as well as four silver studs above his left eyebrow. The man was carrying a long metal spear in his hands that was crackling with purple electricity.

"Who are you?" Alistar asked as the man came to a stop.

"Name's Gideon Valentine, I'm the guild master of this Thieves Guild," he answered, "So, are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way? Cause I'm really hoping you want to do this the hard way," he said as the other members of his guild stepped out of the woods.

"We must protect the caravan! Take down anyone who gets close!" Camille ordered as the rest of the team scattered to protect all four sides of the caravan. Camille took a deep breath before holding out her sword, "Gunblade: Load," she said as the hilt of her sword lit up the magic image of a gun trigger and thirty ticks lighting up along the hilt as well, resembling how many magic charges she had left before she needed to provide the sword with more magic.

Camille rushed Gideon and attempted to cut clear through him with a vertical slash, but one of his guild members quickly rushed in and blocked the attack with a card. Camille locked eyes with the man's brown eyes before jumping back and taking in the appearance of her opponent. He had short, spiky green hair and lightly tanned skin with an average build. He was wearing a red jacket over a white dress shirt with a pair of black dress pants and black dress shoes.

"Sorry," the man apologized, "It's just business, but I have to protect my guild master."

"There's no need to apologize for such an act," Camille said with a confident smirk on her face, "I can tell that you're an honorable opponent, my name is Camille Arturia. May I ask for the name of the man I'm facing?"

"Jackson Queen," the man responded, "And I too can tell that the opponent that I'm facing is an honorable one, may the best mage win," he said with a calm expression before he drew a hand of cards and rushed towards Camille.

"Shit!" Miriam cursed when she realized that Gideon had escaped from Camille, "Get out of my way!" she yelled at the various thieves around her as she rushed in at them and leaped into the air as a dark, claw-shaped aura surrounded her hands as she cut through several of the thieves, "Night Slash!"

"Well you're quite the feisty one, aren't you miss?" a young man said as he walked past the unconscious bodies of the thieves that fell to the ground.

Miriam turned and looked at the young man, he stood at about 5'5" with lightly tanned skin and a scrawny build. He had relaxed orange eyes and orange hair that was in a slightly grown out buzz cut. He wore a dark straw hat on his head and a red t-shirt with black slacks, leather sandals, and a gold chain around his neck.

"You know," Miriam started as she glared at him, "I'm not done with your friends yet, so unless you want them to be in even worse pain, I suggest you hightail it out of here."

"Why should I worry about them?" the young man asked, shocking Miriam, "Oh, my names Oliver Dodger by the way," he added with a small, polite bow, "Shall we start?"

"Night Emblem!" Miriam yelled with her arm stretched out towards Oliver as the claw marks on the unconscious bodies around him started to glow and then release a massive explosion around the young thief. Miriam eyed the smoke cloud with caution, while wondering if the explosion had taken him out, "Earth Magic!" she gasped as she saw a crumbling dome made out of earth where Oliver was standing.

"Surprise!" she heard from behind her as Oliver erupted out of the earth as ax-like blades made out of stone formed on his arms, "Edge-Breaker!" he yelled as he brought the axes down on Miriam.

Alistar was currently surrounded by most of the thieves on the far side of the caravan, "I don't see anyone of note here," he sighed, "Ah well, it's easier to cut through waves of grunts than it is to find one of the stronger members," he continued as the thieves inched closer to him, waiting for their chance to strike, "Now then! What's a thief's greatest sin?" Alistar asked the large group around him as a plain white mask that had two black lines cascading down and past the eye holes on it materialized in his hand, "Greed," he answered as he brought the mask up to his face and put it on, "Mask of Mammon," he announced as a dark and foul magic began to swirl around him as the thieves began to back away in fear.

"Is that guy even human?" one of them asked as he felt the enormous amount of magic power curling off of Alistar.

"He didn't seem that strong before," another one, who happened to be very good at sensing magic power, whimpered, "He even seemed to be the weakest!"

"Dark Wave," Alistar announced as he swept his arm in front of him, sending out a wave of dark magic through the group of thieves.

"Rragh!" Gideon shouted as his spear was thrusted at Rayner and into the ground, with Rayner barely having enough time to dodge the electrically charged tip, "All your doing is dodging! Fight back!" the man yelled after growing frustrated with Rayner.

"Sorry, but I don't really want to touch that spear," Rayner apologized in jest, "But you're right, hopping around won't get me anywhere," he said as he held out his arm, '_Sorry Camille, but with everyone busy, I don't have a choice,' _he thought as he prepared his spell, "Forge Magic: Gáe Bolg!" he shouted as a long spear with a dark gray shaft and an elegant silver blade materialized in his hands, "One weapon should be enough to beat you," Rayner announced with fake confidence, since he knew that he would need more than just one weapon to have a shot at winning.

'_That spear. How does he possess such a legendary weapon?' _Gideon thought, "I'll just kill you before you even get here," he announced as he transformed his spear into necklace and put it on, "Energy Make: Shuriken!" Gideon shouted as he released several shuriken made of purple electricity towards Rayner as he dodged and weaved through them while using his spear's special ability to ensure that he would reach Gideon.

Rayner smirked as the tip of his spear reached Gideon, piercing straight through the man's right shoulder, "Is that it?" Rayner asked as he looked up at the man's face, which was smiling.

"Energy Make: Armor," he said quietly as his body became enveloped in a cloak of purple electricity, while electrocuting Rayner through his spear, causing him to scream out in pain until he was sent flying from the electrical current as his spear dissolved, "So it was just a projection then, and not the real thing," Gideon said in disappointment as he watched the spear dissolve.

"Dammit... all" Rayner cursed as he felt his tattoo begin to burn and grow, '_That spell must of set it off,_' he thought as his body began to be wracked with pain, '_My curse..._'

**. : + : .**

"So why did you drag me down beneath the deck?" Reno asked as she, Ajax, and Leon walked through the halls inside the ship.

"I smelled something familiar up there," Ajax answered as he continued to check every room for the source of the familiar scent.

"What exactly?" Reno continued to ask.

"A lachrima," Ajax responded, "Like mine."

"You mean a Dragon Slayer lachrima?" Reno asked as Ajax nodded a 'yes'.

"But everything smells too much like salt for me to pin down it's location, or should I say his location."

"His?" Reno said as she wondered who Ajax was talking about.

"Remember," Leon said as he hopped from Ajax's shoulder to Reno's, "Captain Nils said there was one other mage on board, and that it was his son," the Exceed explained.

"Oh right!" Reno exclaimed as she remembered, "Didn't Nils say that he got sea sick easily?" she asked as she watched Ajax nod in affirmation, "So you think he might be a Dragon Slayer?"

"I do," Ajax answered as a pungent odor hit his nostrils, causing him to cough from the awful stench, "I think I found him," he announced as he covered up his nose.

"Where?" Reno asked as she looked down the hallway.

"Up ahead in one of the rooms," Ajax said as he led her to the room that the odor was coming from.

"Eww," Reno whined once she could smell the odor, "It smells like puke and salt."

"How do you think we feel?" Leon asked as Ajax opened the door, revealing a miserable looking teenager lying on a cot.

From what they could tell, the boy was essentially a mini Nils, having the same shaggy black hair with droopy blue eyes. He was wearing a white, button-up shirt with brown pants and he had a pair of black boots sitting by the cot.

"What do you want?" the boy moaned from his position on the cot, "I'm not hungry so you can skip this room if you're bringing around food."

"We're here to ask you a question," Ajax said as he entered the room with Reno hesitantly following him.

The boy sat up, from what they could tell, he looked to be about 16, "What?" he asked.

"How can you live in here?" Reno asked suddenly.

The boy raised an eyebrow at the girls strange question before answering, "You get used to it."

"That's not what we wanted to ask you," Ajax said as he turned and gave Reno a hard stare before looking back at the sea sick boy, "Are you a Dragon Slayer?"

The boy looked at Ajax and turned his head slightly to the side, "Dragon...Slayer?" he said quietly to himself, wondering what that was, "Don't know what that is," he answered.

"You've got to be kidding me. You mean you don't even know what a Dragon Slayer is!?" Ajax yelled, causing the young boy to flinch in fear.

"Now now, Ajax, that won't solve anything," Reno said as she stepped in front of the Dragon Slayer before walking over to the boy's cot and finding a clean spot to sit down on, "My name's Reno Lozier and that's Ajax Cruz and Leon," Reno said as she pointed to each one of her friends, "What's your name?"

The young boy sat still for a moment, eying the strange trio carefully, "Leif... Leif Crow."

"Nice to meet you Leif!" Reno said happily, "Sorry about Ajax, he used be just like you, you know? When I first met him he couldn't handle being on a boat at all, but he eventually managed to get used to them," Leif looked at the blushing Dragon Slayer in bewilderment before turning his gaze back to Reno, "So I think he has one more question he wants to ask you if that's alright."

Leif nodded before turning back to Ajax, "What is it?"

"Have you ever had some kind of lachrima implanted into your body?" Ajax asked after calming down.

Leif looked down at the ground with a sad look, "A few years ago, one was put in my body to make me get better," Leif answered with a forlorn look on his face.

"Make you get better?" Reno asked.

"My mom and I were always sickly," Leif explained, "So when mom died, dad couldn't stand the thought of losing me too. So he had some guy implant a lachrima into me after getting the promise that it would make me healthy, but it hasn't really worked until recently and the man that oversaw the procedure disappeared afterward."

"It probably did work right away actually," Ajax interrupted while Reno was sniffing from the sad story.

"What do you mean?" Leif asked, "Right after it was implanted I only got worse."

"Dragon Slayers can't handle transportation, but some of us are able to overcome our motion sickness at least partially," the Dragon Slayer explained, "You've just been motion sick this whole time from being on a boat," Leif looked down at the floor with a confused look until the boat was wracked by a large wave, causing him to open up the window to empty out the contents of his stomach, "Well, come on Reno. We should go see what's going on up on deck now."

"Roger!" Reno said happily as she jumped up and followed Ajax and Leon out of the room, "Bye Leif! I hope you get better soon!"

**. : + : .**

"So what exactly can tell us about what's been going on in the Woodsea?" Jace asked the elderly man as he and his team rode inside the buggy, well Fareth was halfway inside the buggy.

"The price... was too high," Fareth moaned as his torso hanged outside of the buggy and Malon laughed at his misfortune.

Jeorge sweat dropped again at the mages antics before starting, "Well, you three seem to know the gist of what's going on, but I have my guess of who started all of this," the elderly man explained.

"Who?" Jace asked as Malon continued to bug Fareth.

"A girl went into the Woodsea before all of this started, a few of the people who went in afterward claim to have seen her in there, but most of them died not long after returning," Jeorge explained with a hint of anger in his voice as they arrived at the edge of the Woodsea, "Well, this is as far as I can take you three, good luck in there."

"Thanks for the lift!" Jace said as he and Malon jumped out of the buggy, "Hey Rave, carry Fareth would you?"

"Got it, onii-chan," Rave responded as he picked up the ailing Dragon Slayer and flew after his teammates as they entered into the Woodsea.

Jeorge sat in his buggy for a while as he waited for the mages to get far enough into the Woodsea before his body was enveloped in a cloud of light, revealing his true appearance as it dissipated. He looked to be about 14 years-old at 5 foot even, but the look in his yellow eyes showed that he was older than that. He had short violet hair and a lean physique with a pale skin tone. He wore a long-sleeved, gray and black striped shirt with a pair of black jeans and gray dress shoes. He also had a pair black headphones around his neck that resembled cat ears.

"For Dragon Slayers, neither of them seemed too impressive since they couldn't see through the illusion," the young boy said with a look of disappointment on his face, "All the better for me I suppose, should they be able to find that girl and take her down. Now then," the young boy grinned, "Which one will fall first?" he asked the horse as he patted it on the back.

"You don't seem very worried, Vladimir" the horse said as it spoke up and turned it's head to look at the boy, showing him it's purple and red, cat-like eyes.

"Should I be?" Vladimir asked with a wry grin, "That information broker certainly did his job well, finding out where the girl was hiding and what she was doing, and now we even have legal mages to do the job for us!" he added with a laugh.

"But what are you going to do if they learn the truth?" the horse asked.

"None of them seemed the type to listen to reason until it's too late, nor is the girl the type to explain what's going on," Vladimir said calmly, "But, if they do learn the truth before any of them go down, we'll just have to finish them off by ourselves and don't say you can't help because you lost your human body."

"There should be plenty of beasts for me to take control of in the Woodsea," the horse explained.

"Ah, I see," the boy grinned playfully, "Good to know you'll have my back, Horsey-kun!" Vladimir laughed as he jumped onto the horses back.

"Where is this girl," Jace asked after they had walked through the Woodsea for what seemed to be hours.

"Maybe the wild beasts got to her and ripped her to shreds?" Malon suggested with a laugh as Willow happily cooed along.

"We've hardly seen any monsters either," Rave added as he flew next to Jace.

"Something has them all spooked," Fareth explained, having recovered from his motion sickness once more, "It isn't natural or maybe they're staying out of something else's territory."

"Wait!" Malon suddenly called out.

"What is it?" Jace asked as they all stopped.

"There are souls of the departed ahead," she said with an unusually serious tone, "I'm gonna ask them for directions!" Malon exclaimed as her usual personality showed back up as she hopped on over to where she sensed the spirits as Willow followed her as the spirits began to whisper to her.

_'Things are not as they seem.'_

_'Turn back for your own safety.'_

_'The beasts pursue you even now.'_

"I don't understand," Malon said quietly to the spirits who were whispering things in her head, "What are you talking about?" she asked.

_'LEAP!' _a spirit commanded, allowing Malon to narrowly dodge the large hammer that had smashed into the ground where she was standing.

"Where did she come from?" Jace asked in astonishment.

"We didn't even notice her coming," Fareth added as the dust cleared from the impact, revealing a young girl who looked to be about 15. She had long, light blond hair that was worn in two pigtails, with the tip of one being dyed red while the other one was dyed black. She had, bright, seemingly glowing, light blue eyes, a small nose and plump lips. She was wearing a half black, half red, v-neck shirt that had a white diamond in the middle of the front with a pair of dark blue, ripped jeans and black combat boots. The girl was also carrying a large, wooden hammer which she seemed to be able to move around rather easily.

The stood there and laughed hysterically for a little while, "Aww, did you get a booboo?" she asked as she looked over at Malon.

_'Jewul... Poe... Andi. Not... your' _the spirit whispered in Malon's head as it faded away.

**. : + : .**

Jayne Satsuki sat at the bar of the guildhall, writing on a piece of paper while Jezabelle, Roseala, and Salina sat not far off from her.

Jezabelle looked over at the younger girl and smiled, "Still writing that FanFiction?" she asked.

"Yep!" Jayne answered brightly as she continued her work.

"Who're you writing about this time?"

"RayMiri! My current OTP!" Jayne answered as she held up the paper for Jezabelle to read, causing the older woman to blush upon seeing the smutty writing about the two mages.

"I always thought that Camille and Rayner were a thing," Jezabelle said as she looked away from the paper, while trying to get the image of Rayner doing that to Miriam out of her head, causing Salina to laugh, "What?"

"Trust me Jezabelle," Salina said after she had calmed down a bit, "Those two are more like brother and sister than anything else."

"I suppose you've known them longer than anyone else here. Although I'm not really here enough to tell anyways," Jezabelle added, "Ugh... please get me a drink Salina," Jezabelle asked as she set some jewels down on the bar, "That image isn't going away any time soon."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **That chapter gave me a little bit of a hard time this week. Usually I managed to finish them in one long sitting, but this chapter made go back again and again to work on it until I finally finished it.

Anyways, quite a few characters introduced in this chapter, mostly because most of them were not mine and one of them will be joining the guild (which is not one of my characters mind you).

Well, anyways. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please remember to leave a review!

Your Host,

dreadburner94.


	10. The Information Broker

**A/N: **Freaking yessss! Wonderful news for those who haven't heard, the Fairy Tail anime will be returning on April 5th, just a little over two weeks from now! They'll be using a similar animation style to the Priestess of the Phoenix movie and I personally think it looks great so far in the trailer I saw (which you can either hunt down on youtube or in the Fairy Tail wikia).

I don't think I have anything else I want to talk about, so I'd like to thank Saiyan-Styles, PrinceOfTheMatrix88, WaterDragonMaverick, potentialauthor18, MyDearWatson, Stormhawk99, WrittenWhim, ViennaxSky, Hikari, and LightandDarkHeart for their reviews!

**Saiyan-Styles- **I have to agree, I thought Jackson Queen was a strange name as well, but I've heard of people with far stranger names that I could type and pronounce in English, just thinking about them makes me wonder what their parents were thinking, if at all. Anyways, I don't plan on stopping anytime soon, but I love a good challenge. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**PrinceOfTheMatrix88- **I'm happy that you enjoyed the last chapter, and to hear that the first real fight scene of the story turned out well. Let's hope that I can keep it up in this chapter as well!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **I'm glad to hear that I got your villains down, and yes, you'll have to wait for the specifics on the how, who, and why Rayner has that curse. Good to hear that Schrodinger came off as enigmatic, yay for spur of the moment decisions! Anyways, that last scene is an actual part of the chapter since everything discussed in it is part of Jayne's profile, and according to it she does write smutty fanfics about her guild mates and her OTP is currently RayMiri. So I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**potentialauthor18- **It's good to hear that you liked some of the characters introduced last chapter, and yeah, Queen's got a pretty strange name and Oliver's seems to come from Oliver Twist. But yes, as an S-Class mage, Alistar is set apart in strength from the rest of the mages, but you've hardly even seen him scratch the surface of his power so far since Mammon is one of his weaker masks. Wood Dragon Slayer was a good guess, but nope, not wood, but it is something related to something all around them. The strange thing is, I didn't really intend for Malon speaking with the spirits to be a very funny scene apart from her saying that she was going to ask them for directions, but people so far think it's funny and that's alright with me. As far as breaking the forth wall goes, I'd say that they're actually not breaking it since according to Jayne's profile she writes fanfics about her guild mates in an effort to pair them up, with her OTP being RayMiri. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**MyDearWatson- **I'm happy to hear that the last chapter turned out well and I've hardly scratched the surface of what Team Camille and Alistar can do with their magic, course there will still be a bunch to show even after this chapter, but still. Yeah, poor Leif can't really catch much of a break, but you'll just have to wait to find out the answer of whodunnit. I don't think anyone really expected Jeorge to become Vladimir, or to have a talking horse friend. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Stormhawk99- ***Changes voice to match the old DBZ narrator* Last time on Undine's Cove, Team Camille and Alistar came across trouble while guarding the caravan and are now protecting it from each side, can they overcome their mysterious opponents? Meanwhile Team Ajax discovered an artificial Dragon Slayer beneath the deck of the "Free Spirit", but then the ship seemed to come under attack by an enemy. Can they stop this new foe? And within the Worth Woodsea Team Jace came under attack by a mysterious girl, who is this girl and are our heroes playing right into the hands of their true enemy? Find out now on Undine's Cove.

**WrittenWhim- **I'm glad that the action sequences turned out well last chapter, I hope I do as good of a job, or better, this chapter since it's loaded with them. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**ViennaxSky- **Well I appreciate reviews in any form, so I'm glad that you think I'm doing good so far. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Hikari- **Yep, and now a few characters make their exit this chapter as well. I've never been to an actual rodeo before, the only one I've been to is a restaurant. Anyways, I brought the fate of doing a historical omake for every member of Undine's Cove upon myself, so you've nothing to feel guilty about. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart- **I'm glad that you liked that bit at the end so much and I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

**Credits:**

**The Information Broker "Euclid"- dreadburner94**

**Reina Silvette- ViennaxSky**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 9<strong>

"See? What did I tell you?" a cool voice asked from atop the hill overlooking the caravan, "Four mages from Undine's Cove with rare and unique magics, isn't that what you were looking for?"

The woman standing next to him looked down at his sitting figure, the information broker looked around 26, all things considered, and stood at about 5'9" with a lean, yet muscular build and a light tan. He had short, slightly spiky brown hair that was cut over his ears and fell over his forehead and down to the nape of his neck. The man had slanted blue eyes and a knowing smirk that never seemed to leave his face, and for good reason, the man seemed to know everything worth knowing. He wore a black parka, that had a hood lined with white fur, over a dark red t-shirt with black jeans and black and red tennis shoes.

"You are correct as usual, Euclid," the woman responded with a pleased smile on her face.

Euclid stood up and looked down at the shorter woman, who stood at about 5'3" with pale skin and a curvy build. She had curled, raven-black hair and stormy gray eyes that seemed full of want, and if Euclid needed to guess, he would peg her to be in her twenties, but he knew that she was around 39 despite her timeless face. The woman was also wearing an expensive, black and white, Victorian dress currently.

"I know another bit of information about Undine's Cove that you'd like to know, Reina" the information broker offered, "But you'll have to double my fee to hear it and you know that when I offer a piece of information, that it's worth any price."

Reina looked at the broker for a short while, she knew that when he actually offered something that you couldn't refuse it due to it's value, but she really hated giving up her things to someone else, "I'll be the judge of that actually, what is it?"

Euclid smirked before speaking, "It's about someone once precious to you actually," he answered casually as he watched her eyes grow in shock, "But if you want it, you'll not only have to double my fee, but you'll also have to follow my instructions very carefully."

"...Fine," the woman eventually answered, "What do you want me to do,"

"Nothing much, I just want you to restrain yourself here and only mark one of the mages down there, but not claim them. You can make them forget about you though," Euclid explained as he began to walk away, "I'll tell you what I know back at my office, make sure you have the rest of my payment ready."

Reina watched the man walk off before turning her attention back to the fight going on and she saw exactly which mage to mark as she became separated from her team.

**. : + : .**

"Edge-Breaker!" Miriam heard the boy call out as he brought a stone ax down on her.

"Night's Creation: Sword!" Miriam shouted as a katana that appeared to be made out of the night sky materialized in her hands in time for her to block the ax.

"You're pretty good," Oliver commented as they locked blades and began pushing against each other, "Most people don't make it through that attack."

"Well I'm not most people!" she shouted as she continued to glare at him.

"Ooh, scary," Oliver laughed as he jumped back away from Miriam and towards the caravan, "Stone Breaker!" he called out as he slammed his hands on the ground, sending razor sharp rocks flying towards Miriam.

Miriam ran straight towards the spell and held out one of her hands, "Vault in the Sky!" she yelled as an invisible box caught the flying stones as she leaped over it and towards Oliver, "Broken Moon!" Miriam shouted as her sword disappeared and her hands were enveloped in a ghostly white, claw-shaped aura as she slashed them across Oliver's torso, leaving crescent moon shaped marks where the claws slashed through.

"Gah! Dammit!" he cursed as the claws were pulled out of his torso as Miriam jumped back, "Solid Emperor!" he shouted as his body was covered by a suit of rock armor as he ran towards Miriam.

Miriam smirked as she fell to the ground from exhaustion after using Broken Moon, "Looks like you fell for it," she mumbled as she held her arm out towards the charging mage, "Night Emblem!" she yelled as the claw marks underneath Oliver's armor exploded, sending him flying back towards the caravan in an unconscious heap.

"You guys really aren't worth all of this effort," Alistar mocked as he sidestepped a punch and sent the thief flying with a powerful, darkness enhanced kick, "Asmodeus would've been more than enough to take all of you down," he continued as he jumped into the air over three thieves, "Greedy Kick!" he called out as he rushed back towards the thieves with enhanced speed and sent all three flying with a single kick, "But this was more theatrical, wouldn't you agree?" he asked the five thieves remaining, who were staring at him in shock, "Thought so," he smirked as he held out his right hand as a sphere of dark magic began to gather in it, "Darkness Cannon!" he yelled as the sphere flew towards the thieves and enveloped them in a large explosion, "That takes care of..." he started to say as he was cut off by a scream, "Rayner..." he gasped as he took of running towards where the scream came from.

"Gunblade: Deploy!" Camille yelled as she spun her sword in a circle in front of her, leaving a trail of ten green magic orbs as ten ticks disappeared from her sword, "Wall formation!" she commanded as they rearranged into a wall in between her and Jackson, cutting him off as he came to a hard stop.

"Card Cutter," the thief mumbled as he threw his hand of cards towards the orbs, causing five of them to release an explosion of Wind Magic, "I'm not familiar with this kind of magic," he mumbled as he analyzed what had happened, "I see," he said as he drew another hand and threw it at the remaining orbs as he drew another hand and continued his charge.

Camille smirked as she held her sword up to the right of her head with both hands, "Gunblade: Point-Blank Shot!" she yelled as she swung her sword down on Jackson as he got close enough.

"Too slow!" he yelled as he stopped and sidestepped the slash as it hit the ground, releasing another explosion of Wind Magic that rushed out in several cutting waves of wind.

"Are you certain?" Camille asked as she looked up at Jackson, who was now bleeding from several large gashes made by the wind.

"Tch," Jackson replied as he jumped back and pulled out a whole deck of cards before raising his free hand and snapping his fingers, "Circle Slicer," he mumbled as cards appeared around Camille and began to spin around her, cutting her up as she jumped out of the trap.

"Not bad," Camille gasped as she pointed her sword at the thief again, "Gunblade: Load," she announced as she filled her sword with twelve more charges and dropped a card she had grabbed from the trap, "But why are you wasting your talent with these thieves?" she asked as she gave him a hard stare.

"Sorry, it's just business, but I don't plan on telling my life story to someone I just met," he replied, "Card Counting!" he announced as all the cards he had used so far returned to the deck in his hand.

"That's a shame, and I'm sorry for whatever reasons you may have, but I need to get back to the caravan soon. This battle's taken us to far away from it," Camille replied as she sent her sword back to her requip space and held out her hand towards Jackson.

"What are you doing," he asked with a puzzled look, "I refuse to fight an unarmed opponent."

"I'm sorry, but Rayner's health and safety are more important to me than maintaining my honor, forgive me. Gunblade: Detonate," she mumbled as the card she had held exploded in Jackson's hand, sending him headfirst into a tree. Camille looked down at the ground with a guilty look as she walked over to Jackson's unconscious body and picked him up before turning to walk back towards the caravan, "Who are you!?" she asked as she watched a woman in a black and white Victorian dress step out from behind a tree.

"This Rayner person must be awfully important to you then," the woman replied casually as she continued to walk towards Camille, "But you know, I can't say that I've ever heard of Gunblade Magic before, it must be quite rare," she continued as she stopped right in front of Camille and leaned in towards her ear, "Advent of the Mad Queen," she whispered before kissing Camille on the cheek, causing the young girl to blush heavily.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Camille stammered, "Back away n-," Camille began to say as her eyes lost any life in them.

"I order thee to forget about what transpired here and to continue living normally until I return," the woman commanded before walking away and out of view.

Camille stood still for a while longer before regaining control of her body, "What... happened?" she asked as he looked around in a daze.

"What's wrong?" Gideon asked as he stomped his foot down on Rayner's stomach, causing him to cough up more blood than he already was, "Get up and fight!" he yelled as he kicked Rayner in the side, sending him flying a short distance, "This can't be all your capable of," Rayner began to slowly get up, despite the pain coming from his curse he clenched his bloodstained teeth and glared at the large man, "That's more like it," Gideon grinned, "Keep making that face while I kill you, Energy Make: Mjolnir!" he yelled as a large hammer made of lightning appeared above him as he swung it down towards Rayner.

"Forge Magic: Aegis!" Rayner yelled out in pain as a large shield appeared above him, blocking the hammer. Rayner could feel his mark burning on his face as it began to crawl across the bridge of his nose and to his left shoulder, "Mjolnir huh?" Rayner smirked as he held out his right arm as Gideon looked down at him in enjoyment, "Forge Magic: Mjolnir!" he yelled as a steel hammer imbued with blue lightning appeared in his hand as he screamed out in pain and threw the hammer at Gideon who tried to catch the hammer with his free hand.

"Aaargh!" he screamed in pain after a loud snap came from his arm as the hammer fell to the ground and disappeared along with his own, "You little shit!" he screamed as he pulled his necklace off and transformed it back into a spear.

Rayner wore a smug look on his face as his shield disappeared, "Guess you can't use your maker magic very well now huh?" he laughed before breaking out into another coughing fit as Gideon walked up to Rayner and prepared to run him through.

"Just die alrea-"

"Dark Beam!" they heard a voice cut Gideon off as a beam made of darkness flew towards Gideon and pierced him straight through the center of his chest.

"D-damn y-you all..." he cursed before falling down backwards as he dropped his spear and began to bleed out.

"Looks like I'm right on time," Alistar sighed as he ran up to Rayner, "Are you all right?"

"Been better," Rayner laughed before coughing up more blood, "Just slowly wasting away here."

"Rayner!" they heard Miriam call out as she ran up to them, "What happened?" she asked as she saw all of the blood on and around him.

"I guess I should explain," Rayner sighed as he looked up towards the sky, "Even though I didn't want you worrying about me," he added as he watched Camille walk up towards them with the unconscious Jackson Queen in tow.

"You're telling her?" Camille asked as she sat the thief down.

"Yeah," he answered before looking back at Miriam, "A few years ago, not long before I met Camille actually, I was afflicted with a Wasting Curse."

"A Wasting Curse?" Miriam asked in slight confusion.

"It's been killing me slowly ever since I got it and sometimes it makes it painful to use magic like now," he explained, "I have about three years at best to live," he said suddenly with a small smile.

"What!?" Miriam shouted, "Three years! How can you be calm about that you idiot!"

"There is a way to lift the curse, Miriam" Camille interrupted.

"What? How?"

"By killing the man that cursed me and killed my father," Rayner answered calmly, "But there's no way I can beat him right now and we don't even know where he's gone, but we can track how much longer I have by looking at how much my tattoo has grown, see how it's grown?" he said as he pointed at his tattoo which now crossed the bridge of his nose, "We can also slow it down by having Caleb use his magic on me at regular inter-..." he started to say before he stopped suddenly.

"What is it?" Alistar asked as he watched Rayner's face pale to a ghostly white.

"Aw shit," he cursed with an expression of terror on his face, "I forgot about my check-up with Caleb!"

**. : + : .**

"What's going on up here!?" Ajax yelled as he and Reno ran up on deck as they stopped and looked up at the giant sea monster looking down on them.

"It wasn't the nest of just any sea serpent," Captain Nils muttered, "This is the nest of a Hydra," he said in awestruck terror as he stared up at the serpent and it's five heads.

"Nils!" Ajax called out, "Do your best to keep it from eating your crew or destroying the ship! Reno! Leon! We're going up and taking the fight to it!" he ordered as Leon picked him up and flew into the air.

"Roger!" Reno responded as she ran towards the edge of the ship and jumped off of the railing, "Wind Glider!" she yelled as she landed on a flying skateboard made of wind before flying up to the Hydra's heads with Ajax and Leon as four of it's heads focused on them while the middle head kept eying the ship.

"Glass Dragon's Scales!" Ajax shouted as his body was covered with hundreds of glass scales, "Take me in Leon!" he ordered as Leon flew him towards one of the Hydra's heads, "Glass Dragon's Punch!" he yelled as he hit the head with a magic enhanced punch, sending it flying down towards the water, "Reno! Cut it's head off!"

"Wind Blade!" Reno yelled as she swung one of her arms, sending a blade of wind flying down towards the fallen head, cutting it clean off, "Yeah! Take that you overgrown lizard!" Reno shouted as she watched the head fall into the water, unaware of the head sneaking up behind her.

"Move!" Ajax yelled as he and Leon pushed her out of the way of a cloud of poisonous gas.

"That was close," Reno sighed, "Thanks Ajax, I forgot about it's poisonous breath."

"That's not all we forgot about," Ajax replied as they watched the stub left by the severed head grow two more heads at a rapid pace, "Remember what your old man said about Hydras?" Ajax asked.

"That's right," Reno gasped as she remembered, "The only way to kill it is by cutting off all of it's heads at once."

"So let's see if this works," Ajax said as he held out his left arm, "Glass Dragon's Sword!" he yelled as his arm transformed into a large sword made of glass, "Suck on this you dragon wannabe!" he screamed as he swung his sword straight through two of the Hydra's heads until it got stuck in the neck of the third neck, "Damn," he cursed as he watched the severed heads grow back, giving the Hydra a total of eight heads, "This isn't good," he muttered as his arm changed back to normal.

"Father!" Leif yelled as he stumbled onto the deck, "What's going on?"

"Leif!?" Nils yelled as he saw his son, "What are you doing? Get back below deck!" he yelled as the Hydra let out a fierce roar and swiped it's tail across the ship, destroying the mast and sending most of the crew, including Nils and Leif into the ocean.

"No! The ship!" Reno screamed as she watched the crew fall into the ocean.

"Nevermind the ship! What about the crew!?" Leon yelled in response to Reno's misplaced worry.

'_What... happened?'_ Leif thought as he sunk deeper into the ocean, '_Did that monster... do this?' _he wondered as he saw his unconscious father sink deeper into the ocean, '_But what's this urge?' _he asked himself as he opened his mouth and began inhaling the salt water before coughing back up the water, '_Salt?' _Leif questioned as his canines elongated and his pupils thinned into slits,_ "_Salt Dragon's Great Pillar!" heyelled as he slammed his hands down on the ocean floor, causing a giant pillar of salt to rise up out of the ocean with the crew on top of it.

"Leif!" Reno gasped as she watched the pillar rise out of the ocean, "He did it!" she exclaimed in celebration.

"Perfect," Ajax smirked, "Reno, keep the Hydra distracted for a moment, but don't sever any heads! Leon, take me to Leif!" he yelled as Leon flew him down towards the salt pillar as Reno engaged the Hydra, "Leif!" Ajax called out as he landed on the salt pillar.

"Ajax, what is it?" Leif asked as he stood up from helping his father get the water out of his lungs.

"I need your help," Ajax answered bluntly, "The only way we're going to win this fight is if we manage to take off all of that things heads at once. You'll be taking off the three heads on the left and-"

"Wait!" Leif interrupted, "How do you expect me to do that? I don't even know how I did this," he said as he gestured at the pillar.

Ajax smirked before answering, "Instincts, Dragon Slayer's are known for them. You'll know what to do when you're ready to do it," Ajax answered as he placed a glass covered hand on Leif's shoulder, "So be ready for us to call out our spells, c'mon Leon!" he explained before Leon flew him back to Reno.

"Instincts huh?" Leif sighed to himself as he eyed down the Hydra.

"Wind Gale!" Reno yelled as a gust of wind at one of the Hydra's heads, sending it flying backwards, "Ajax!" she exclaimed as she watched him fly off to her right, "Did you talk to him?"

"Yeah, he'll be cutting off the three heads on the left and I'll be taking the three on the right, so that leaves..."

"The middle two to me," she finished.

"Yeah, so get ready," he responded as he held out his right arm, "Leif! Now!" he yelled as he transformed his right arm into a giant sword and began to swing it as Reno began to cast Wind Blade.

Leif jumped from the salt pillar towards the Hydra as his left arm transformed into a giant cleaver made of salt, "Salt Dragon's Cleaver!" he screamed as the three spells severed each of the Hydra's heads clean off as he continued to fly past the Hydra and land in the ocean behind it.

"We did it!" Reno cheered as she flew over to Ajax and gave him a tight hug around his neck, "We beat a Hydra!" she continued to cheer as the Hydra's body fell into the ocean.

"Air..." Ajax gasped as his face began turning blue.

"Whoops! Sorry," she apologized with a small laugh as Ajax gave her a look before flying down to where Leif had landed in the ocean.

"You're awfully lucky that you landed in the ocean after doing that," Ajax smirked as he watched Leif swim towards the boat.

"Why's that?" Leif asked between strokes.

"Hydra blood is incredibly poisonous, like it's breath, and you had it all over you," Ajax explained.

"I... see," Leif mumbled as he realized how close he came to dying back there as he reached the ship and saw Reno helping the crew back over to it, "Mind giving a little help?" He asked as Ajax landed on the ship and gave a Leon a nod.

"Got it," Leon said as he flew down and picked Leif up.

"Thanks," he smiled as he was sat down on the ship before paling and falling over as soon as it moved due to his motion sickness, causing everyone around to sweat drop.

**. : + : . **

"Not my what?" Malon repeated quietly as the girl swung her hammer at Malon again, "Phantom Magic: Intangibility!" she yelled as the hammer and the girl flew straight through her, '_What were they trying to tell me?'_ Malon thought as she threw the hook end of her chain up into the trees and swung away, "I'll handle this!" she yelled, "Try not to die a horrible death!" Malon continued to shout as she and Willow swung away through the trees with the mysterious girl hot on her tail.

"D-Did we just get ditched?" Jace stammered as he watched them leave.

"Yeah, but I think we've got bigger problems, hear that?" Fareth responded as he looked around the forest.

"We're surrounded onii-chan," Rave pointed out as several types of monsters creeped through the woods towards them.

"There's something strange here," Jace responded, "See? Look at their eyes, they're all purple and red and look like a cat's."

"Quite a few Forest Vulcans, an army of Goblins, and one or two Wyverns," Fareth said as he pulled out his sword hilt and filled it with his magic, causing a blade of flames to erupt from it.

"So in other words," Jace smirked, "Whoever takes down the most wins," he added as he drew his Tachi sword.

"You always have to make a competition out of it don't you?" Fareth asked as he glanced back at Jace, "But sure, I'm game," he said as he dived headfirst into a horde of Goblins, "Fire Dragon's Wing Blade!" he screamed as the flames of his sword grew and expanded before he slashed in a large arc, taking down several Goblins and even a Vulcan and a few trees.

"Tch, show off," Jace muttered as he took off his headphones and gave them to Rave, "Hold these for me Rave," he said as he threw his sword up in the air and took a maker magic stance, "Ice Make: Wolf Pack!" he shouted as a pack of ten wolves made of ice came to life and ran into the horde of monsters ahead of Jace as he caught his sword and ran in after them, slashing and weaving through the Goblins and Vulcans, "Water Dragon's Tail Whip!" he shouted as a stream of pressurized water shot from his sword as he swung it around, cleaving anything unfortunate enough to be in it's path in two.

"What do you think you're doing copying my move?" Fareth asked as the two of the wound up back to back in the middle of the monster horde.

"Your move? What do you think you're doing copying my move?" Jace yelled back in response.

"Yeah! It was onii-chan's move first you copier!" Rave shouted in support from above them.

"Is this really all that Dragon Slayers amount to these days?" a wyvern asked as it landed on the ground in front of them.

"Did that thing..." Fareth mumbled.

"Just talk?" Jace finished with a wide eyed look as the wyvern seemed to smile as best as one could.

"Not only I," the wyvern said.

"But every beast in this forest spoke to you humans," all of the monsters said in unison around the two Dragon Slayers.

"What kind of magic is this?" Jace asked in shock.

"No idea," Fareth responded, "But if we can just find his real body and take it down we should be able to kill the spell, cause who knows how many monsters are in this forest," Fareth explained as he looked around, "You ready?"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Jace said as he pulled his war fan off of his back and unfolded it, "Born ready."

Fareth smirked as he heard Jace's answer, "Alright then, let's go!" he yelled as they charged into the sea of monsters.

"Joker Magic: Trip Shot!" the girl yelled as an invisible wave of energy flew towards Malon, causing her to lose her grip and balance and fall to the forest floor.

Malon quickly pulled her chain back to her and threw it again to keep herself from turning into a stain on the ground, "That was a bit too close," Malon sighed as she hung in midair with Willow floating next to her.

"Did you have a nice fall?" the girl asked as she landed on a branch not too far away.

"Ufufu, well aren't you the funny one?" Malon asked with twisted smile and laugh, "But it would be such a shame if you were to wind up as a pile of rotting flesh here," she said in a malicious tone as she felt some spirits wander towards her.

'_Not... your... enemy...' _the spirits whispered as they faded away.

"Jewul Poe Andi," Malon said suddenly, shocking the girl since she had never told Malon her name, "Not my enemy," Malon finished as her face turned to a hard expression, "That man lied to us," she said as they heard clapping off in the distance as they turned to see the elderly man sitting atop a horse that had purple and red, cat-like eyes.

"Very good!" Jeorge shouted as he continued clapping as his body was enveloped in a bright light, revealing his true nature, "But I had hoped that you wouldn't have figured it out, how did you do it?" Vladimir asked as he jumped off of the horse and sent it off, "None of you seemed particularly smart on our trip here."

"Vladimir!" Jewul spat upon seeing him, "What are you doing here? How are you even alive?" she asked with a snarl on her face.

"Uh uh," Vladimir said tauntingly as he waved one of his fingers, "I'll answer your questions as soon as you answer mine," he said with a smirk.

"Your really wanna know huh?" Malon said to herself as she began to use her chain to start swinging back and forth, "Well I guess I could tell you, but what would the fun in that be when I can show you?" she snickered with an insane look on her face as she began laughing, "Phantom Magic: Spirit Summoning!" she shouted as the various spirits scattered about the Woodsea began to take physical form, "I don't care what you all do!" Malon shouted out to the spirits and ghosts, "But the only one you can kill is him!" she commanded as she pointed at Vladimir as they began to fly around and cause havoc.

"I suppose I should keep my promise then," Vladimir shrugged as he sidestepped a spirit, "It was none other than my dear Horsey-kun that rescued me on that dark day that you slaughtered my Dark Guild and I'm here for revenge of course!" he explained while gesturing theatrically, "And now my dear Horsey-kun is busy slaughtering two little dragons and a cat! Now how about we get started!?" he screamed with an eager look on his face, "Wire Magic: Garrote!" he announced as a razor sharp wire cut the chain that Malon was holding onto, "I wonder if you'll survive this? Cheshire Magic: White Rabbit!" he called out as a wormhole opened beneath Malon as she fell.

"Trick Card! Float!" Jewul yelled as she threw the card at Malon, causing her to float when it hit her, "You don't want to fall in there!" she called out as Malon took a relaxed pose while floating in the air.

"There aren't many dark and ominous that holes that I do want to go in," Malon snickered as she grabbed hold of her chain again and began swinging on it before launching herself into the air and turning invisible, "Now what should I do?" she wondered aloud to herself as her voice echoed throughout the Woodsea.

"Tch, I suppose I'm at a disadvantage here," Vladimir mumbled as he watched Jewul leap towards him in an attempt to smash him with her hammer, "Razor Barb Coil!" he yelled as a wall made of barbed wire wove itself together and blocked the attack.

"Phantom Claw!" Malon shouted as she appeared behind Vladimir with a purple mass shaped like claws on her hands as she slashed him in the back, forcing his attention off of his spell and allowing Jewul's hammer to smash him in the back as he fell down against the ground, breaking several of his ribs.

"Is he dead?" Malon asked as she squatted down and poked him in the side.

"I'm afraid not," a voice far deeper than Vladimir's answered through his body as it stood up and opened it's purple and red, cat-like eyes, "But I'll make sure that you have an opportunity to correct that in the future," the voice continued as it made the body hop away and disappear.

"Wait! Get back here!" Jewul yelled as Vladimir's body vanished, "He's gone..."

"Hey! Malon!" they heard a voice shout from the forest floor.

"Jace!" Malon gasped as she grabbed Jewul by the hand and leaped down to the forest floor with the younger girl in tow, "We were tricked!" she yelled suddenly after landing on the ground with Jewul.

"Wait, what?" Fareth asked in confusion.

"That old guy tricked us!" she shouted, "That means no money!" she continued as she watched Jace, Rave, and Fareth's faces fall into an expression of shock.

"So all of this was... for nothing?" Jace moaned in despair, "That means we're going to be even more broke than we were since we have to pay for the boat tickets!"

"But that means we'll be catching all of our own food out of the ocean!" Rave shouted suddenly with some drool on his face from the thought of all of the fish they would be eating.

"At least someone's happy," Fareth sighed as he pinched his brow.

"So anyways, what are you going to do now Jewul?" Malon asked as she decided to ignore the boys moaning, "If you were to stay here, you might get possessed by a spirit and turn into a ghoul!" she added cheerfully.

"I dunno," she answered blithely, "But it might be interesting to watch someone turn into a ghoul."

"If that's the case," she grinned in response to her opinion of 'ghoulification', "You should come with us then, since I like you."

"Did you seriously just invite someone to join the guild because they think that watching someone turn into a ghoul sounded interesting?" Fareth asked the insane girl next to him as Jace continued to fret about money.

"Yep!" Malon answered happily, "Is there something wrong with that?" she asked with a creepy look on her face, to which Fareth could only shake his head in disbelief.

"I think I'll decide when I get there," Jewul answered with a grin, "After all, I won't listen to somebody unless they're stronger than me."

**. : + : .**

Rayner and Caleb stared at each other in silence, eying each other down.

Rayner gulped nervously while being supported by Camille, "I-" he started to say when a senbon needle suddenly hit a pressure point in his and Camille's necks, rendering them both immobile as they fell onto the ground.

"Why... me?" Camille asked before she froze up completely.

"Because your responsible for reminding him about his check-ups, and he missed one," Caleb answered in a cold and intimidating tone as he grabbed Rayner by his hair and Camille by her tie and began to drag them to the infirmary.

"S-scary..." Miriam stammered as Caleb stopped suddenly.

"And I expect to see you two there soon," he said as he turned his head back towards them as his glasses caught a sun glare.

"Yes sir!" both Alistar and Miriam shouted as they straightened up in a salute as Caleb continued to walk back to the infirmary with Rayner and Camille in tow.

"But I'm not even injured..." Alistar mumbled when Caleb was out of earshot.

"And my injuries aren't that bad are they?" Miriam moaned.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Now then, I need to inform you all that I'm taking next week off from writing. So there'll be **no new chapter next week**. It's been getting to the point that I haven't been able to work up the energy to write until Friday, so I figured that it was time for a break so I could recharge and be refreshed for the next part of this arc now that I've finished the first three missions. So look forward to a new chapter the week after next!

Your very, very tired host,

dreadburner94.


	11. A Letter and a Coming Storm

**A/N: **And I am back! Feeling quite a bit more refreshed and ready to write!

That break really did me some good. Not only was I able to work out quite a few things regarding this story, but I was also able to work on a secret that you will all learn about at a later date. I feel like there was something else that I wanted to talk about, buuuut I can't remember what it was. So onward to replying to the reviews!

After a word of thanks of course. I would like to thank Stormhawk99,WrittenWhim, SaiyaStyles (formerly known as Saiyan-Styles), Guest (whomever you might be), WaterDragonMaverick, MyDearWatson, LightandDarkHeart, Hikari, and lexlovesya for their reviews.

**Stormhawk99- **Glad that you liked the chapter and don't worry, we'll see Fareth a lot more as the story continues, cause I know that it wasn't much in the last chapter. But anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**WrittenWhim- **Yeah, keeping track of all of the different character is quite a chore and it's definitely one of the hardest things that I have to deal with when writing and when coming up with ideas (especially since my mind keeps gravitating towards a part in the story that won't happen for a long time). But, anyways it's great to hear that the fight scenes turned out well, here's to hoping that the future ones turn out even better!

**SaiyaStyles- **That Hydra fight definitely gruesome, what with all of the beheadings and blood. Then there was also Gideon's broken arm, Vladimir's shattered ribs, and Jace cutting several unfortunate monsters in half with his magic. But more fun is coming! It'll just take a while to get here... Just kidding (I hope).

**Guest- **I'm glad that you liked the chapter, but this arc is still ongoing, we're just entering part two of it.

**WaterDragonMaverick- **What did Reina do to Camille? You'll just have to wait to find out, but you might be able to draw some conclusions from going over that scene. Yeah, kinda got to hope that they find the man that cursed Rayner eventually. Yeah... it'll happen... eventually, just not anytime soon. Yep! Ajax and Reno are actually very experienced sea monster hunters and Ajax even states this in chapter 6, but you'll learn more of their time as monster hunters in their historical omakes. I'm glad that you liked the fight scenes with Team Jace, but we will see more of Schrodinger since he got away (we'll also see more of a certain "horse" as well).

**MyDearWatson- **That Info Broker... he's definitely going to be giving everyone in the guild a hard time for quite a while (hint hint y'all). Muahahahaha! An answered question always leads to more questions, and you will be waiting to have these questions answered for many, many chapters! You have fallen into my devilish trap MyDearWatson! (Insert a diabolical and evil laugh that lasts for about 10 minutes and ends in an abrupt coughing fit here). Ahem... So anyways, all of my shenanigans aside, I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed how I used Team Reno last chapter. I figured that with a rookie Dragon Slayer around that Ajax felt like he would need to man up and show him how it's done and all that. I had quite a bit of fun with Team Jace's part of the chapter, writing the interactions between them all is pretty fun, but yes, Malon's made a new friend that's pretty much just as strange as her. Well I love to hint at things, I've actually dropped a few hints throughout past chapters, sometimes they hint towards things later in the chapter, other times they hint at stuff that'll happen in chapters that have yet to come. But yes, Caleb is unquestionably the scariest person in Undine's Cove, even most of the S-Class mages fear his wrath and the only person who truly doesn't fear him is Salina of course. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart- **Yep, Rayner's got it pretty rough and I don't always make Dragon Slayers, but when I do I make sure I'm creative with their element. Yep, if the mages of Undine's Cove thought Malon was crazy enough by herself, just wait until they get a load of Malon and Jewul.

**Hikari- **Well, like I said in an earlier response, this arc is still actually ongoing, we're just entering part two of it. I'm actually all caught up on Fairy Tail, so no spoilers in the reviews please for those who aren't all caught up. The manga is something that I have to keep up on since what happens in it will have a direct effect on how I plan out the events of the story, but it's what happens after the Tartarus Arc (or how it ends) that will have the biggest effect on the story so far. Yeah, when it comes to my Dragon Slayers I try to be as original as possible with their elements and I try to avoid using the more common elements in favor of things like salt. As I said to MyDearWatson, you'll just have to wait for the why and how Rayner got cursed (and it'll be quite the wait). The Info Broker, he's a pretty interesting character, but that's all I'm gonna say on him for now, asides for the fact that you all better get used to having him around, cause he's here for the long haul. As for Reina, my lips are sealed, cause she's not my character. Well I do have to say that my creative thoughts have been flowing quite well these past few days, if only I could focus them on this story a bit better, but something great did come from it. As for what that something is, it's a secret to everybody. As for writing multiple chapters in quick succession, I tried that at the very start... and I tired myself out real quick and started to have thoughts that I wasn't up for the challenge, which I can assure you all that that is not the case anymore. But I'll be sticking to my loose and tight schedule for as long as I am able to, cause I established it so that I didn't tire myself so quickly. As for the dynamics between Jayne and Light, I feel as though Jayne doesn't know Light all that well, but things might happen to change that fact. You never know with me at the wheel of this story. So we have our second shipping name of the story! RayIlle, and it's in direct conflict with the first shipping name RayMiri, what dramatic irony! Anyways, you hear that Believe In The Unknown!? You have been complimented on your character good sir or ma'am, now say thank you (gets stared at for acting strange, but is in too good of a mood to care, or maybe it's the fact that I'm writing the A/N at 2 in the morning). Anyways, I'm not a liberty to so openly discuss Jezabelle's history just yet, but all your questions about her will be answered eventually.

**lexlovesya- **It's all right if it takes a while for you to review. Readers have real lives too, despite whatever I, the author, might think (wait a moment, wasn't that a little reversed given the typical scenario?). Anyways, enough of my fooling around, I'm happy to hear that you like how the different characters have been interacting with each other so far. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that fun is one of the last words that Rayner would use to describe the experience of being cursed, and Leif has had it pretty tough with his life on a boat, but he might get better when we see him later on. And all should fear that which is Caleb! Strive to never miss an opportunity to visit the infirmary, even for the smallest injury! Lest you be hunted down like the reckless and irresponsible dog you are! But seriously, don't get on his bad side or he will hunt you down.

I remember now! I was going to tell you guys that this chapter is more a wrap-up of the last one and a setup for the next group of missions, so it's probably going to be a shorter chapter than the last one, okay it'll definitely be a shorter chapter than the last one. And I did write this A/N ahead of time, I'm not reckless enough to write a chapter when I'm in such a weird mood. But I am reckless enough to write my A/N's in such a weird mood.

I remembered yet another thing before I started writing. I am still in dire need of villains. So if any of you (even if you don't have a character in the guild, this is open to everybody) have an idea for a villain, please send it in. Just keep in mind that I already have this story's main and final villain all ready to go. When submitting a villain, please use the OC submission form at the end of the prologue and send it to me in a Private Message. Also, there are some things that can be left out of a villains profile. I only need one outfit for a villain, so just their regular clothes are needed. Also there is no need for the 'Type of Person They Would Like' category since I am doing no romance stuff for villains, which means that there is no need for you to describe how they would act around crushes. However, if you happen to make another villain that they happen to already be romantically involved with, then describe how they would act around that person. And I would prefer if they are not any form of Slayer, meaning no Dragon Slayers, no God Slayers, and no Devil Slayers (I wouldn't even know how to write one's abilities at this point anyways). So please, please, please don't send in a Slayer and expect me to take it, I will say this right now: It will be denied no matter how much you argue since I do not want anymore Slayers than the ones that have already been submitted and accepted. And I'm sorry if that makes me sound like a jerk, but that is the decision that I have come to for the time being and there is a very, very good reason for it that has to do with the future events of this story and as such, I cannot divulge my reason. Just know that I have one and it is too good of a reason for me to change my mind on it anytime soon.

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 10<strong>

The evening sun began to set in the cloud cloaked sky as the Free Spirit arrived in Hargeon's port. The wooden ship had gone through some make-shift repairs, with the mast being kept in place by large, glass bolts made by Ajax.

"Are you sure you won't reconsider?" the Dragon Slayer asked one last time before he and Reno departed.

"Yeah! The guild's a really fun place and it's right next to the ocean!" Reno added in support.

Leif looked at the two mages before letting a small smile form on his lips, "Sorry guys," he apologized, "But I want to stay and help my father and the crew now that I can, I need to repay them, y'know?"

"If that's what you want to do then, don't let us stop you," Ajax sighed before turning around and waving, "Later."

"Bye!" Reno called out as she followed Ajax back to Undine's Cove, "Take care!"

It was a fairly quiet walk through the port, the two of them watched several of the different crews going about their business loading and unloading cargo, "I wonder where he is right now?" Reno muttered in a far-off tone.

"Who?" Ajax asked as the two of them started down the mile-long path back to the guild, "Your dad?"

"Mhmm," Reno nodded, "I miss him, the crew, and mom a lot sometimes," she admitted while scooping Leon off of Ajax's shoulder so that she could hug him.

"Well... Um," Ajax started to say, partly unsure of what to do, "Next time we take a mission I guess we can see if there are any missions in Cedar so we can see your mom, but you know how rare those are."

"You promise!?" she shouted in surprise at Ajax's thoughtfulness, causing him to flinch at the sudden loud noise.

"Yeah," he answered, "And if anyone else, like Rayner or someone, tries to take it before we can, then we'll just have to take it from them," he said with a confident smirk on his face as they heard a loud 'boom' come from the cove.

**. : + : .**

"So you want to make sure that I'm stronger than you before you join?" Salina asked from her position on the bar.

"Yeah! I won't work for anyone weaker than me!" Jewul announced to everyone in the area. Not many of her guild members had ever seen Salina fight, in fact she could count the one's who had all on one hand.

"Very well," Salina agreed as a serious expression took her face, her eyes looking as chaotic as the dark skies her old title was named after, "I was once known as Salina of the Dark Skies," she explained as she stood up and walked to the beach, Jewul following right behind her, "Alongside Iron Rock Jura of the Ten Wizard Saints, I was one of the strongest mages in Lamia Scale. This your last chance to bow out of this match completely unharmed," she announced as thunder rumbled off in the distance as it began to rain.

Ladon, Wilhelm, Yune, and Team Jace all looked up at the sky as it became cloaked in clouds, "This should be good," Jace snickered in excitement.

"You've never seen her fight before?" Ladon asked as he pulled the hood of his sleeping bag over his head.

"Have you?" Fareth questioned without looking over at the reclusive man.

"Once before," Ladon answered without saying anything else.

"Well it looks like now's our chance to watch her fight," Wilhelm pointed out, "That girl doesn't look like she's going to back down," he explained as they all watched Jewul lift up her mallet before charging at Salina with a powerful downwards swing.

"You're fairly strong," Salina complimented as she blocked the swing with the tip of her umbrella with seemingly no effort, "Try again?" she asked as Jewul's expression turned angry as she pulled a revolver pistol out of her boot and fired it at Salina's head, "Another good try," Salina admitted as the magic shot was caught by the air around Salina and squelched, "Weather Magic: Air Pressure Cannon," she announced as Jewul was sent flying across the cove and into the rock wall across the water by an invisible wall of air pressure, causing a loud boom to resonate throughout the area.

"How...?" Jewul gasped as she pulled herself out of the Jewul-shaped crater in the rock wall, only to see Salina casually strolling across the water towards her, that chaotic look still in the elder woman's eyes as Jewul watched her hold an arm up into the air.

"I suggest you admit your defeat here!" Salina called out as a bolt of lightning shot down into Salina's arm, causing the lightning to crackle up and down it as she held her arm in Jewul's direction, "Unless you still need to see the difference between us?"

"Jocker Magic: Now You See Me, Now You Don't," Jewul mumbled as she teleported behind Salina and swung her hammer.

"Discharge," Salina muttered as she quickly turned around and released the lightning bolt against Jewul's stomach, sending her flying back towards the beach before her hammer could connect with Salina's side, "You won't be able to move for a while after being hit by that spell," Salina explained after arriving on the beach near the now paralyzed Jewul, "I'll hear you're answer after you recover," she said as her eyes lost their chaotic look as Ajax and Reno ran up to her.

"What happened here?" Ajax asked as he saw a girl he didn't know lying on the beach, unconscious.

"Well she said that she wouldn't join the guild unless I was stronger than her," Salina explained with an innocent smile as she twirled her umbrella over her head, leaving the trio dumbfounded, "Do you think you could take her to the infirmary for me since Caleb will want to see you all anyways."

All three of them paled at the thought of missing an after-mission check-up and quickly began to pick up Jewul so they could hurry to the infirmary.

"Salina," she heard Ladon call out.

"Hmm? Are you three leaving now?" Salina asked as Ladon nodded in response, "Well if you see anyone I know say 'hi' for me, alright?"

"Will do, Salina," Wilhelm responded as he and Ladon began walking out of the cove with Yune walking behind them.

"Yune!" Salina called out after her.

"Hm? What is it Master?" she asked, causing Salina to sigh before starting.

"Be careful all right?" Salina requested, "I can't help but feel like a storm is coming."

Yune nodded in response, knowing that she hadn't been talking about an actual storm, "Okay! Don't worry, I'll have Reginald and Wilhelm with me!" she shouted back before running to catch up with her teammates.

**. : + : .**

"What on earth were you thinking!?" Caleb shouted as he continued to treat Rayner, who was lying on a cot while covered in bandages, too afraid to make a retort as Miriam and Alistar just watched the scene in fear while Camille laid on the cot next to Rayner, still paralyzed, "You know that your curse goes out of control when you don't get your regular check-up! So how did you forget about it!" he continued to ask.

"S-s-she w-was d-drunk," Rayner mumbled in fear while pointing at Camille, causing Caleb to raise an eyebrow before walking over to Camille to heal her of her paralysis so he could question her.

"You were drunk?" he asked in an intimidating tone, causing Camille to only nod in response out of fear, "Why were you drunk!? You know that you can't handle alcohol!"

"Th-they were arguing a-and I embarrassed myself when stopping the argument, s-so," Camille stammered while pointing at Miriam and Rayner, Miriam flinching in fear when Caleb's attention became focused on her.

"He started it!" Miriam shouted in fear while pointing at Rayner, feeling relieved when the healer's attention was redirected back at the injured man, "What are you looking at?" she asked when she noticed that Alistar had started to stare at the scene with a strange expression on his face.

"Just watching what happens," he answered, "This is reward enough for the last mission and it's why I find you three so entertaining," he said with a smug look on his face that disappeared as soon as Miriam kicked his shin, "What the hell!?" he shouted as he lifted up his leg to grab his shin.

"Tch, idiot," Miriam responded as they entered a full blown argument, unaware that the door had opened, showing a completely dumbfounded Ajax, Reno, and Leon.

"What happened in here?" Reno asked as they all watched Miriam and Alistar argue while Camille and Rayner kept shifting the blame on one another to avoid Caleb's wrath.

"Idiots," Ajax mumbled after the shock had disappeared, "Yo! Doc!" he shouted as everyone turned and looked at him, after being brought out of their own little world.

"That was kinda creepy," Leon mumbled from atop Reno's head.

"Got a patient for you," Ajax continued as he laid Jewul on a cot, "Salina did a number on her," he explained, causing Caleb to sigh and push his glasses back up as he walked over to the girl to begin healing her.

"You three wait here as well," he ordered as he began healing.

"Roger!" Reno said with a salute as Leon jumped over to Ajax's shoulder.

"The hell happened to you?" Ajax asked as he looked down at Rayner.

"Oh you know, just a more difficult mission than you've ever been on," Rayner answered with a smug look on his face.

"What? Did you hide behind your shield the whole time after you lost one of your weapons?" the Dragon Slayer retorted.

"At least I'm smart enough to hide behind my shield, pretty boy!"

"What'd you say!?" Ajax shouted as he picked up Rayner by the bandages on his chest.

"Are you going to stop them?" Miriam asked Camille as she sat down on her cot.

"Someone else will," Camille answered as two senbon needles whizzed past her head and hit Ajax and Rayner in their pressure points, causing the two men to collapse into each other, "See?" she said as though it was completely normal while Miriam sweat dropped, "At least we have time for a break, Sir Heartfilia paid well."

"How much did you get paid?" Reno asked as she walked over to the two girls.

"One-hundred thousand jewels apiece," Camille answered as she looked over at Alistar who had resumed watching everything unfold with a strange expression, "Alistar got nothing though," she added with a pleased look on her face as the two girls next to her sweat dropped at Camille's pleasure of that fact.

**. : + : .**

"Well what do you think of this one?" Hughes asked as he pulled a request form off of the board.

"Sounds too easy," Zain mumbled, "Leave that mission for Sean and Jean."

"Okay," Hughes sighed as he put the paper back and pulled down another one, "What about this one?"

"Let me see it," Ziv requested as she took the form and read it, "It sounds good to me."

"What is it? What's the job?" Zain asked as he took the form from Ziv, "Recover a lost treasure?" he read, "That doesn't sound interesting."

"You didn't read the whole thing did you?" Hughes responded, "Apparently there are some pretty dangerous monsters where we'll be going and the job pays pretty good."

"Well I say we take it," Ziv announced, "So you're outvoted even if you don't want to go on this mission, Zain."

"We best go tell Salina then," Hughes said as he walked towards the stairs, Ziv and Zain following him down them.

"Did you pick a mission?" Salina asked as she watched the trio walk down the stairs, request form in hand.

"Yeah, we'll be going on this one," Hughes answered as he handed her the request form after Salina had pulled the large log book out from under the counter and opened it.

"Well it looks like you'll be heading to Oshibana Town to formally accept the quest, good luck you three!" she said as she handed the request form back to Hughes, "Oh, can you fetch Camille from the infirmary? A letter came for her while she was gone."

"You'll be heading over that way to get your things, can you do it Ziv?" Zain asked as he and Hughes started walking off towards the male dorm.

"I guess," she sighed as she started off towards the infirmary and female dorm while Salina picked up the large logbook and put back in it's place underneath the counter while she picked up the envelope the letter was in.

"Salina," she heard a woman call out.

"Yes?" she asked as she stood back up, "Oh, Aspen, are you leaving now?"

"Yeah, that last mission was such a disappointment so I figured that I'd go ahead and go on another one," Aspen explained.

"With the mission you're going on, I suppose it's a good thing that you're going so soon. Kidnappings are messy business," Salina sighed as Aspen nodded in agreement.

"I'm off to Shirotsume Town then," Aspen said as she turned and began walking away as Camille ran up to the bar.

"You said there was a letter?" Camille asked as she stopped.

"Yep," Salina responded as she handed the young girl the letter.

"I'll be going to my room now," Camille said before she ran back towards the female dorms.

"You've always been one for privacy," Salina smiled softly, remembering the day she first met the young girl.

**. : + : .**

Camille hurried through the dorm, nearly knocking over Roseala on her way up the stairs as she came to her room. It was a modest room at best, kept in near perfect shape with there rarely ever being a mess in it. Her burgundy bed sheets were neatly made and the books on her wooden shelves were neatly organized. Her desk was also kept in good shape, if not a little dusty, but sitting on it was a framed picture of her family from when she was a small child and a picture of her with her foster family in a frame next to it. Camille sighed as she picked up the picture of her foster family, the Ealdwines. She certainly looked a bit younger in that picture, it being taken only a few short weeks before she had left home at the age of 14, so she was certain that her two younger brothers had grown since then, as well as her cousin. Her master stood tall with his usual smirk on his face, standing next to his wife while her own father stood behind her. Camille smiled before looking over at the picture of her birth parents, both standing tall and proud while Camille stood in between them with a stoic look on her face. She was wearing the clothes of a young noble boy, having been raised as a son instead of as a daughter, which was obviously something that she still carried to this day. Camille sighed as she looked down at her wrinkled suit, before walking over to her dresser and changing clothes the old-fashioned way into a burgundy t-shirt with a pair of black sweats, while her silver, sword-shaped pendant was worn over the shirt instead of under it like it usually was.

"Time to open this letter then," she said to herself with a small smile as she collapsed onto her bed and began tearing open the envelope.

_To Camille,_

_I'll get this out of the way first thing. I've been looking around for anything about this guy who cursed your friend while looking around for the last of the people responsible for what happened for Lynn, and so far I haven't found anything on either of them._

Camille wrinkled her brow upon reading that, it wasn't the news that she had wanted to hear at all, both Rayner and her cousin Lynn had been through a lot, she wanted to do what she could to make their lives better and she felt that finding the people responsible for all their problems was what she could do.

_But I don't think that either of their cases are related, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to find anything for your friend while looking for those last two people. Anyways, it's been a while since you've stopped by the dojo, think that your guild will come to Crocus this July? I know that both Quill and Lynn would love to see you, and Jareth would love to fight you again to see if he's surpassed you yet._

Camille smiled at the thought of it, her younger brother, Jareth, had seen her as his rival ever since she had started learning Gunblade magic with him after her master had taken her in. And she had always gotten along with both Quill and Lynn.

_I'd like to see your progress as a mage as well. I know that you've always had trouble changing the element of your Gunblade magic, even with an elemental magic sword, but I'd like to see if you've made any progress with that._

Camille sighed in embarrassment, her master hit her right on the head with that. It didn't seem to matter what sword she was using, but it always came out as the wind element when her master switched through them all with relative ease.

_Although, I need to ask a favor of you, Camille. I won't be able to make it out to Mt. Hakobe this August since I have a large job lined up for then, and I'd like to ask if you could go for me, you know how much it would mean to me._

Her expression turned solemn as she remembered the reason why it was so important to her master to visit Mt. Hakobe on August 10th every year. She didn't know if Rayner or Miriam would want to visit the freezing mountain during August, but she would make an effort to go.

_Well, whatever you decide to do, there's one last thing that I need to tell you, and I want you to tell your guild master. There's some information broker going by the name of Euclid causing trouble all over Fiore. I don't know what he's after, but he hides his tracks incredibly well. It took a whole string of favors just to get that much information on him. Anyways, take care on your missions._

_Sincerely,_

_Your Favorite Master._

"You're my only master in that sense," Camille sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "But still... Euclid eh? I'm going to have to tell Master Velvet about this in the morning," she said to herself as she looked out of her window at the dark jungle behind the guild.

**. : + : .**

"I've returned Euclid," the deep voice said through Vladimir's body as it entered the dark office.

"In that thing?" Euclid asked as he spun around in his chair while leaning back, "What happened to the horse?"

"It ran away," the voice answered as Vladimir's unconscious body dropped to the floor as a black and white tabby cat walked out from under Euclid's desk before hopping onto a nearby chair, "And I've had enough of being called 'Horsey-kun' anyway," the voice replied from the cat's body.

"You always did like possessing my cat," Euclid smirked as he stopped spinning.

"It's agile, not to mention that you feed me better when I'm in your cat," the voice retorted, "Now what are we going to do with the thing on the floor?"

"Well we could just kill it, but it may have it's uses if it gets stronger," Euclid explained as he stood up and walked over to the unconscious body, "Most of the ribs are broken, and these claw marks in it's back," he observed, "I believe I know who took him down, considering which guild I sent that fake request to."

"Why are you so interested in Undine's Cove anyway?" the voice asked as it jumped down from the chair and sat down on Vladimir's back.

"Because there are so many potential conflicts just waiting to happen there!" Euclid exclaimed, "Each member has something that they've run away from or are seeking, each one has the potential to start the conflict that we seek!" he continued as he walked over to a chessboard and moved a white knight over to the black side, "All I have to do is make sure that all of the pieces are in play for the grand finale of this game called life," he finished with a knowing smirk on his face.

"Are you sure that it'll work?" the voice asked.

"If it doesn't, then I'll just have to make it happen myself," Euclid answered while retaining his smirk, "And no one will stop us like last time."

"I certainly hope so," the voice replied.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Like I said, a shorter chapter than last time, but it's all for the purpose of setting up the next three missions. We'll be seeing Team Ladon, Team Hughes, and Aspen out on their missions next time.

Anyways, don't forget that I'm looking for villains right now! And I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

Your host,

dreadburner94.


	12. Historical Omake: Camille Arturia Part 1

**A/N: **I bet none of you were expecting something so soon, I had a bit of a change of plan and this is coming out sooner than expected, but don't worry, we'll see the next group of mages take off on their missions next week as planned. So, dreadburner94 here with the first historical omake! Also as a fair warning, if you happen to be reading MyDearWatson's story, Thunder Stone, at this point in time, since a few characters that also appear in that story are going to be in this story, there will be some slight spoilers regarding what will happen to them (although if you do read Thunder Stone and haven't guessed that these two characters wind up with each other, MyDearWatson has stated that there is a problem since they have received much bigger hints than some of the other eventual couples). Be warned and know that the spoiling is done with MyDearWatson's blessing and if you have a complaint about it, then MyDearWatson has told me to relay to you that they don't mind you taking it up with them.

Also, Camille is more or less a joint creation between MyDearWatson and myself. Sure, Camille was originally my idea and character, but a huge part of her history comes from MyDearWatson since many of the characters in Camille's history were MyDearWatson's creation and not mine.

And another thing, since this is an omake, it might be a bit shorter than a chapter is, but there's a lot to learn in it.

I'd like to thank MyDearWatson, WaterDragonMaverick, Stormhawk99, WrittenWhim, lexlovesya, ViennaxSky, PrinceOfTheMatrix88, Joshua1277, QueenKazza, LightandDarkHeart, and Hikari for their reviews for chapter 10!

**MyDearWatson- **Caleb is a very enjoyable character for me to write, not only are his vocal reactions to several things fun, but also his physical reactions to his guild mates. He'll most likely hit you or paralyze you before healing you if you didn't come see him right away, and fighting anywhere near him is ill advised. I'm not sure when exactly the mission to Cedar will be, I think we might've discussed it, but I don't remember right now. I'll have to look back through our messages for it if we did. Yeah, we'll definitely be learning more about Salina in the coming chapters and the other two missions will be just as interesting I hope. Well, the Co. part of Camille and Co. won't be seeing the Ealdwines for a little while, but surely this is good enough for now, right? And with Euclid, it's good to hear that he's having the desired effect, but we'll eventually get to learn everything about him, just not for a loooooooong while since he's going be causing mischief the whole way through. I hope you enjoy the Omake!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **There's quite a bit to learn about Salina and her past, but yes, her personality is actually very similar to weather patterns, with her becoming like a chaotic storm when she enters battle, thus the title "Dark Skies". You'll see quite a bit of the story behind Camille and Zander here! Of course it's going to be different than that of Thunder Stone's since Zander is quite a bit older in this story than he is in that one, but I can finally address him by his name in this one! That has me so freaking excited since he's one of my favorite OC's that I ever came up with, which is part of the reason why I am doing this omake sooner rather than later. But anyways, I hope that you enjoy the first historical omake!

**Stormhawk99- **The current year is still X790 in Undine's Cove (although we'll be jumping around in this omake), as for what will happen in the X790 GMG's, you'll just have to wait and see.

**WrittenWhim- **We'll be picking up with the next group of missions next week as planned and Euclid is definitely an interesting character. What could he possible be up to? But anyways, yeah, your two villains are definitely appreciated, but at this point, sending in one or two more would help out tremendously.

**lexlovesya- **I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed Salina's show of power, I can't really call it a fight since Jewul didn't even land a single blow, but when you're up against someone like Salina there's not much you can do but try. Anyways, whenever you come up with a villain, go ahead and send it in, I have a feeling that I'll need a lot of them based on how many villains Fairy Tail goes through.

**ViennaxSky- **Good to hear that Reina came out well, she's already causing problems and we'll see more of her in the future for certain. I'm glad to hear that you like how the dynamics between the guild members so far are turning out, and that is exactly why it's Lamia Scale that Team Ladon will be working with. Human laws will not protect you in Caleb's Infirmary, whilst there, you abide by his rules and his rules alone. So yes, in short, never get on Caleb's bad side or miss a check-up. You will definitely feel something for Euclid, either you will hate him, or you will love him since you like his character too much to hate him, even though he deserves it (I am of the latter category).

**PrinceOfTheMatrix88- **Thank you, it's good to be back here with you all! We'll see the start of the next series of missions next week, but first an omake!

**Joshua1277- **Glad to hear that Team Hughes' first mission sounds interesting enough, but before I start on that next week, here's the first historical omake!

**QueenKazza- **All hail Caleb Pherl! Tremble in fear all ye who are injured and did not seek out proper medical attention! It's good to hear that you're learning more about the different characters so far, although you'll learn a lot about Camille here in this omake and no, you don't want to be on Salina's bad side at all.

**LightandDarkHeart- **Well the current plan revolving around our two curious baddies is to keep you all in the dark wondering what they're after for as long as possible while teasing you all with scenes like that one. But seriously now, all my jesting aside, it's good to hear that they have your interest. And Salina and Caleb both definitely resemble Mira in that way, they're the great friends so long as you don't get on their bad side, in which case you're screwed if you do get on their bad side.

**Hikari- **The first thing I'm going to say is that this omake is not the secret that I mentioned. Next thing is (3-2)*(24-8)=16 (I'm not certain if that's how you did it, but I figured it how one way or another), but I don't really know how many chapters this arc will take, I do have a feeling thought that this story (at the current rate that I am going at) will likely run for well over 100 chapters, considering that I'm only in the second arc by chapter 10 and there will be many story arcs, some much longer than this one, some much shorter. Now, you think that you know what Euclid is doing, but do you really? I don't usually write so late to be honest (but I do stay up rather late planning out the story (and helping to plan out Thunder Stone since I am it's beta) and working on various future arcs), most of my writing happens in the middle of the day and it usually takes all day when I write a chapter, I just wanted to get last chapter's A/N out of the way before I started working on the chapter itself. But yes, on to the messy and uncomfortable business. Yes, a question like that makes it very uncomfortable for me since I really don't like to answer questions like that in my review responses. If it had been asked in a PM, I would've likely answered the question without much of a complaint. Are we uncomfortable yet? Cause I am, and I'm sorry for that, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt this one time since I am unable to respond to the question in a PM, or request to you that you only ask questions like that in a PM given your lack of an account. The long and short of it is... I am not certain at this point in time. We can stop being uncomfortable now. I really don't like using the stern author persona, keep in mind that I'm not mad at you for asking though.

**Credits:**

**Philemon Arturia- dreadburner94**

**Morgana Arturia- dreadburner94**

**Zander Ealdwine- dreadburner94**

**Quinn Ealdwine- MyDearWatson**

**Quill Wolfram Ealdwine- MyDearWatson**

**Jareth Christopher Ealdwine- MyDearWatson**

**Marilynn "Lynn" Lindwyrm Ealdwine- dreadburner94**

**Christopher Lohr- MyDearWatson**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy part 1 of Camille's Historical Omake! (The rest shall be done at a later date)

* * *

><p><strong>Historical Omake: Camille Arturia Part 1<strong>

Camille awoke with a start, she had that dream again... that dream where she heard her father's disappointment in her, no matter how hard she had tried.

"_You have been nothing but a disappointment since the day you were born," _the voice of her long-dead father echoed in her mind.

"Father..." Camille mumbled as she looked out the window, seeing that it was still incredibly dark out, "One day you'll be proud of me," she said quietly as she remembered her one brave moment of defiance, "Heh... How will I do that now?" she asked herself with a small laugh as she stood up and opened up her window and jumped out of it so that she could clear her head.

Camille walked through the jungle, she didn't mind the fact that she was barefoot, given how calloused the bottom of her feet were from years of martial training, something that she had done most of her life in various forms. It was something that she was proud of, she had learned and had become quite skilled in various forms of martial arts, as well as various forms of swordplay, but she had always felt that she was never very talented in the magic arts and had often relied on her brute strength to win her fights.

"I guess that's the perfect place to start," Camille said quietly to herself as she came upon a waterfall, "I could never properly learn your Wind Magic, Father," she quietly admitted as she began to try to cast a Wind Magic spell, only to have it diffuse quickly after being casted, "See?," she asked no one in particular, "It even keeps me from mastering my master's magic," she muttered with a small smile on her face, "But I guess that's part of why you always thought so little of me," she continued as she sat down on the ground as put her feet in the water as she let the sound of the waterfall clear her mind.

**. : + : .**

**May 9th, X773 in the Capital City of Crocus**

"Lord Arturia! Lord Arturia!" a maid called out as she ran through the halls of the manor in search of her master, eventually coming across the tall, blond haired man, "Lord Arturia, your child is born," the maid announced as Philemon Arturia turned around and faced his maid.

"Is it a son?" he asked in a deep and demanding tone.

"No," the maid replied, "Your wife, Lady Arturia has given birth to a daughter."

"I see," Philemon said in disappointment as he walked past the maid to see his wife and child, eventually coming upon the room where his wife was giving birth, "A daughter?" he asked as if seeking his wife's confirmation.

"Yes m'lord," Morgana Arturia responded, "What shall you name her?" she asked in a monotone voice.

"Camille," he said quickly, "It is ambiguous and can be taken for either a male or female name, as such she will be raised as a son, and as a knight."

"Yes, m'lord," Morgana responded quietly, knowing how disappointed Philemon was in his daughter.

**April, X782 in the Capital City of Crocus**

"Try harder!" Philemon shouted as he sidestepped his daughter's attack, "Your form is sloppy!," he yelled as he hit Camille in the back with his wooden sword, sending her falling to the ground.

"Ow..." Camille whined with a few small tears in her eyes, "Why did you hit me so hard?" she asked as she got on her knees.

"Because pain is the best teacher," her father answered coldly, "If you do not wish to get hurt, then grow stronger!" he explained while looking down on his young 'son' disapprovingly.

Camille stood at about 4'8" at the age of 8, nearly 9, with pale skin and a scrawny build. Her blond hair was kept short in the back with the bangs covering her forehead while being cut around her ears. She was currently wearing a dark blue, button-up shirt with a pair of black pants and brown boots. Although her clothes were covered in stains from training out in the courtyard with her father.

Camille quickly rose to her feet and charged at her father, only to be repelled by a burst of Wind Magic. Camille slowly sat up, her chest covered in scratches from the magic and tears coming out of her eyes, "No fair... you know I can't use magic well," she whined, only to get hit by another spell before she could get back up all the way.

"Hmph, you should know better than to whine about fairness," the man said coldly as he began to walk away, too frustrated with Camille to continue, "You always have been a disappointment," he muttered as he got a maid to go and treat Camille's wounds.

"Father!" Camille shouted as Philemon walked away, "One day... One day I'll make you proud of me!" she shouted with tears filling her eyes as Philemon walked away.

The man simply stopped in his tracks and turned around briefly, "I look forward to it," he responded before he continued to walk away as the maid treated Camille's wounds.

**December 25th, X782 in the Capital City of Crocus**

Camille stood next to her parent's bedside, both of them being horribly ill since earlier in the month. Across from her on the opposite side was a doctor trying to figure out what their illness was.

"I regret to inform you, that I am at a loss as to what this illness might be," the doctor finally spoke up after a lengthy diagnosis.

"I see," Camille mumbled in response, seemingly lost in her own world, she didn't even notice it when the doctor collected his pay and left. Camille could tell how bad things were for her family right now, both of her parents were deathly ill, a large portion of the family wealth had been spent on doctors and healers that all gave the same result. No one knew what this illness was, but they all told Camille that it would likely be the death of her parents.

"C-Camille," she heard her father say after a long while.

"Father," Camille said once she saw that he was awake.

"You're in here... instead of being out there... trying to make me proud?" he said quietly, shocking Camille, "Heh... Hahahahahaha!" he laughed until he began coughing horribly until it calmed down so he could speak again, "You truly have been... nothing but a disappointment... since the day you were born..." he said as his eyes closed for the last time as he took his final breath.

**July 4th, X783 in the Streets of Crocus**

It had been seven months since Camille's mother died, following after her father. Without enough money to pay for the manor, Camille had been left an orphan on the streets of Crocus, scavenging what she could to survive. Her sole possessions from her time as a noble where a picture of her and her family and her father's sword, a steel broadsword with a gold hilt and gold embellishments on the lower half of the blade. The handle was wrapped in a blue cloth and had a gold pommel. The blade being approximately 3'6" long and about 4 1/2" wide and Camille had come to call it Arturia's Tear.

Camille continued to walk through the streets of Crocus, her hair had grown longer since January, it now fell down to her shoulders while she had to keep her bangs out of her face by tucking them behind her ears. Her clothes were also incredibly filthy, being torn and stained in various places. She truly looked like a lost orphan, instead of the proud noble she used to be.

"Hey kid!" Camille heard a man shout as she walked past an alley, "Why don't you hand over that sword," the man said as he placed a hand on Camille's head, preventing her from moving.

Camille looked up at the man, her sword in her arms, "No," she answered plainly, not wanting to disappoint her dead father anymore than she already had, "I won't give it to you," she said as she watched the man's face contort with anger as her reached back and smacked Camille, sending her down to the hard cobble stone street.

"I wasn't asking," the man said as he pulled the sword out of her hands after a short battle of tug-of-war, "This sword will fetch a pretty penny in the market," he laughed as he began to walk away.

"Give it back!" Camille yelled as she got back up and ran after the older man, only to get knocked back down.

"Well since you insist," the man snickered as he pulled the sword out of it's blue and gold scabbard, "I'll see just how good it can cut!" he yelled as he raised the sword above his head.

"Gunblade: Artillery Shot," Camille heard a voice announce from behind her as a burgundy magic projectile flew above her head and into the man's chest, sending him flying down the alley as the magic projectile exploded.

Camille watched a tall man with red hair walk past her. He was wearing a long burgundy coat over a long-sleeved, black dress shirt with a pair of gray jeans that were tucked into tall brown boots. The man was wearing a dark gray beanie on his head, covering most of his dark red hair that was tied into a loose braid that was thrown over his shoulder, "Some people have no class," the man said as he bent over and picked up Camille's sword before recovering the scabbard, "Seriously, stealing from a kid of all people," he continued as he sheathed Camille's sword before walking over to the young girl, "Can you stand?" he asked as he finally showed his face to her. He had a light tan and a slightly pointed nose, and he was wearing a cocky smirk on his face despite what had just happened. His hair fell over his left eye, so she couldn't see it, but she could see a scar underneath the hair, his right eye was a dark blue though, and he had another scar running across the bridge of his nose, "Are you able to stand?" the man asked as he held out a hand.

Camille nodded with a dumbfounded look on her face as she took the man's hand as he helped her up, "Who... are you?" she asked as the man handed her back her sword.

"Oh right, my name is Zander Ealdwine, of the guild Midnight Haven, but you could say I'm on leave from the guild," the man answered with a smirk on his face, "Now what's your name kid?"

"Camille... Arturia," she answered quietly, shocking the man.

"Arturia huh?" Zander repeated with a solemn look, his smirk disappearing, "You're kinda like me then," he said quietly, confusing Camille, "Hey, you're all on your own right?" Zander suddenly asked.

"Yes, my parents died last winter," Camille explained quietly, a sad look on her face.

"Then how would you like to come live with me?" Zander asked as his smirk suddenly reappeared as he held out his hand again as he kneeled down to look her in the eyes.

Camille looked at Zander in shock, before she realized what he had just asked her, "...Yes," was all she could manage to say before she started crying as Zander pulled a silver, sword-shaped pendant on a small silver chain out of his pocket and put it around Camille's neck.

"You'll never have to be alone again," Zander whispered as hugged the crying girl, _"This is what you would do, right mother?" _Zander thought to himself as he remembered when he had been taken in by his teacher, "It'll be alright," he said as he continued to comfort the young girl as she continued to cry into his shoulder, he could tell that this was the first time someone had cared about her for a long time.

"Are you alright now?" Zander asked Camille after she had calmed down, her nodding a 'yes' in response as she wiped her eyes, "Alright then, what do you say we get you cleaned up and some new clothes? Those seem pretty worn out," he pointed out as Camille looked down at her filthy clothes, noticing the necklace for the first.

"Is this?" Camille started to say as Zander cut her off.

"It belonged to my mother, Sieglinde Wolfram," Zander explained, "She gave it to me right before she died," he said with a sad smile on his face.

"Then you should take it back," Camille tried to say as Zander placed a finger on her lips.

"I want you to have it," he said as his other hand went up to his beanie and gave it a small tug, "She gave me this beanie when she took me in, so I'm giving you that necklace now, understand?" he explained with a kind smile on his face, "Now let's go get you cleaned up."

**. : + : .**

"You know," Zander said with an embarrassed blush on his face as they walked out of the public baths, "You should've told me you were a girl before I tried to drag you into the guy's bath."

"My apologies," Camille said quietly and politely as she braced herself for a hit that didn't come.

"Why're you so tensed up?" Zander asked after he noticed Camille bracing herself, "It was my mistake for not noticing that you're a girl, so you should be the one that's mad," he explained while he looked at Camille's new clothes, "I even went and bought you boy's clothes too," he sighed.

Camille was now wearing a black t-shirt under a burgundy jacket that was dark gray around the shoulder area, with matching stripes running down the sleeves as well. She was wearing a baggy pair of black jeans with a pair of dark gray shoes that had burgundy stripes on them as well, with her new necklace being worn around her neck.

"I don't mind," Camille said quietly after they started walking again, "I'm used to dressing this way," she admitted with a small blush.

"You're pretty uptight for a kid," Zander stated as they kept walking through the streets, "You don't have to be so polite or serious with me," he said as he suddenly stopped and spun around to poke Camille in the forehead, "Lighten up, live a little," he added with a smirk on his face.

"I don't think you're taking things serious enough," Camille muttered as Zander's smirk broke out into a grin.

"What was that? I couldn't hear you," Zander lied as he turned around and started walking.

Camille puffed up her cheeks in anger before yelling, "I said I don't think you take things seriously enough!" causing Zander to stop and spin around again.

"That's better," he said with a smirk, shocking Camille, "I like it better when you act like that, if you're feeling angry then just yell, you won't need to hold it back where we're going," he explained, confusing Camille for the rest of the walk.

"Here we are!" Zander announced as he stopped in front of what looked to be a large martial arts dojo, "The Lohr Dojo!" he continued as he opened the door, "Hey! Come here everybody!" he yelled throughout the dojo before motioning for Camille to come inside as he kicked off his boots as Camille followed suit and took off her shoes, noticing five other pairs of shoes there at the entrance.

"What is it?" Camille heard a woman call out as she came into view.

The woman stood at about 5'9" with a slim and toned build and a light tan. She had long auburn hair that was worn up in a high ponytail due to the summer heat, while her bangs framed her face. Her eyes were hazel and she had green piercings in her ears and a metal piercing through her right eyebrow. The woman was wearing a black tank top that showed off her stomach and dark green guild mark under a short-sleeved, form-fitting, dark green jacket that had a white stripe running down the middle of it while the cuffs of the sleeves were also white. The collar of the jacket was also popped up and there were two pairs of buttons on either side of it, buttoned up while the jacket flared out around her hips. She also wore a pair of tight, black shorts that reached down to her thighs with a white leather belt that had an empty holster on it, presumably to hold her weapon of choice, and a pair of black boots that ended just above her ankles. The guild mark on her stomach looked like a tilted crescent moon with a four-pronged star in the middle of it and Camille assumed that it belonged the guild Zander had mentioned, Midnight Haven.

In the woman's arms was a small child who looked to be around 4 years-old. He had the woman's auburn hair, which was being somewhat tamed by a black headband, and Zander's dark blue eyes, but they were large and wide instead of slanted.

"Who's this?" the woman asked as she saw Camille standing behind Zander.

"You're going to start being shy now?" Zander asked as he gently pushed Camille out in front of him.

"My name is Camille Arturia, ma'am," Camille said with a bow, causing the woman to sweat drop a bit from Camille's excessive politeness.

"Quinn Ealdwine," the woman responded, "And this our youngest son, Quill."

"A pleasure to meet you both," Camille said while still bowed.

"Camille, I told you that you don't need to be so polite," Zander in a slightly annoyed tone, "After all, you'll be living here from now on," he added, shocking Quinn.

"Living here?" Quinn asked in a surprised tone as she looked at her husband in shock.

"She's going to be my student," Zander responded in a serious tone, "And since she doesn't have anywhere else to go, I decided that she'd come live with us."

Quinn nearly started to yell at Zander for picking a random orphan off of the streets until she saw that Camille was wearing his necklace, "I see that you're really serious about this," she said quietly, knowing how important that necklace was to Zander, "Alright, but next time you decide to do something like this, let me know first," she said in a stern tone.

"Yeah, yeah," Zander responded, waving off her warning as another young boy ran into the room.

Camille noticed that this boy looked to be about 7 years-old and he had messy red hair that fell down to his shoulders and hazel eyes. He also had many of Zander's facial features, so he looked like a mini version of the man, the boy was even wearing a beanie of his own.

"You're back!" the boy yelled as he jumped into Zander's arms as he spun around once before setting him down in front of Camille.

"This is our oldest son, Jareth," Zander said as he gestured at his son, "And this is Camille Arturia, she'll be living with us from now on and I'll be teaching her magic too," he said to Jareth, who didn't seem very happy all of a sudden.

"Why do I have to share training time with him?" he whined, unaware of Camille being a girl, causing Zander to laugh, "What? What's so funny!?" he asked.

"Camille's a girl," Zander responded after he calmed down, knowing that the young girl would've just let Jareth think that she was boy from his own experience earlier that day, "Now where's Lynn and your Grandpa?"

Jareth's face lit up for a small moment when he realized that his cousin hadn't followed him into the room and he ran back to where he had come from for a short while, "Come on!" they heard him urge as he drug a girl his age into the room.

The girl had the same red hair and lightly tanned skin as Jareth, but her eyes were a steel gray unlike anyone else in the family. Her hair was worn in several spiky layers, with her bangs covering her forehead and curving inwards towards her slightly pointy nose as they framed her face.

"This is my cousin Lynn!" Jareth stated after he had pulled her all the way into the room as she hid behind Jareth.

"She's staying with us so that she can learn to control her magic," Zander explained in a sad tone, meaning that there was probably more to that story than he had said, "Now where's your old man, Quinn?"

"I'm not that old, Zander," a middle-aged man said as he entered the room, "I'm only 50," he added as he came to a stop next to his daughter.

The man, Christopher Lohr, stood at about 6'4", being slightly taller than Zander who stood at 6'3", with tan skin, broad shoulders, and thick muscles. He had dark brown hair that was cut short with the bangs spiked up in the front and he had hazel eyes like his daughter. The man wore a loose-fitting, green yukata with a white sash while the top of the yukata was left slightly open to show off his muscled chest. On the back of the yukata was the kanji of the man's last name, Lohr, in large, black print.

"Who's this?" he asked as he looked down at Camille who was staring up at the muscled man in awe.

"This is Camille," Quinn explained, "She'll be living with us now and Zander will be teaching her magic. I guess you can say she's one of the family now."

"So what you're saying is," he started to say as he bent down and reached for Camille, "Is that I have an adorable little granddaughter now?" he finished as he quickly picked up Camille in a tight hug while the young girl had a terrified expression on her face from the sudden and unfamiliar attention while Quinn and Zander sighed at Christopher's antics.

"Daughter huh?" Zander mumbled to himself quietly, before a pleased look came across his face, "Yeah, she's our daughter now!" he said proudly, shocking Camille who had worked her whole life to make her father proud and had now made someone proud without even doing anything.

"Father," she said quietly to herself as a smile crept across her face.

**March 30th, X790 at the Mage's Guild, Undine's Cove**

"Yo! Earthland to Camille," she heard a familiar voice call out to her.

"She's pretty out of it," she heard another voice say.

"Well let's see her sleep through this!" the first voice said as it pushed her into the water, waking Camille up instantly.

"What the hell!" she shouted as she quickly stood up in the water, seeing Rayner and Miriam standing there with smiles on their faces.

"Morning!" Rayner greeted innocently.

"You weren't in your room this morning," Miriam explained, "Everyone's worried about you," she continued as a look of shock came across Camille's face.

"Worried? About me?" she repeated as she stepped out of the water, realizing that she must've fallen asleep out here.

"Why wouldn't we be?" Rayner asked rhetorically with a smirk.

Camille stood there silently for a moment before a smile crept across her face before she took off running past the two of them back towards the guild, "Then let's hurry up and get back!" she called out as Rayner and Miriam took off after her.

Even if she would never make her father proud, Camille knew that she had made at least one man proud of her, even though she hadn't done anything to make him proud. But he had decided to give her another chance by saving her life that day, even though she had done nothing to earn that second chance. So she had decided that she would continue to make him proud, this time by her own effort, and to prove to him that it wasn't a mistake to give her that second chance by leaving her home to become a full-fledged mage. And somehow, she had managed to make many friends on her journey, but that is a story for another time...

To be continued.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So there it is! I hope you all enjoyed part 1 of Camille's historical omake, and as you might've guessed there will eventually be more to it in part 2!

Remember, chapter 11 will still come out next week so don't worry about that! And I'm still taking villains!

Your host,

dreadburner94


	13. Aurora

**A/N: **Well... I guess I should explain myself... Okay, first, real life happened last week (and that will happen again most likely since I do have one of those real life things)... so I wasn't able to update or work on the chapter when I planned to. Then, when all that was over I came down with a stomach flu (and as I said, I will never write when sick since it would come out horrible since I can't even think straight when I'm sick), which was awful, I even spent the night in the bathroom one night since I couldn't stray too far from it without being miserable or needing to rush back to it. And then, even more real life stuff happened and even more is going to happen. So I haven't just been slacking off or playing hooky, I've actually been rather miserable the past few days if you couldn't tell from my bathroom story. So there's my reason, but I will try to make up for missing the last few weeks eventually.

Now onto business. A word about the frequency and length about Historical Omakes first. Historical Omakes will be happening at my discretion without much of a warning, but they'll often happen after a chapter has a scene that heavily focuses on a single character (such as Camille reading her letter from Zander in chapter 10), so keep an eye out for scenes like those and you might be able to guess when a Historical Omake is coming. Also, Historical Omakes are exempt from the schedule, so they'll happen even if I already have posted a chapter that week. Now on to their length, the length of a Historical Omake is completely determined by the length of the history section of your character's profile. So if you only sent in one small paragraph about their history, you should only expect to see one part to their Historical Omake. But if your character had a rather long history section, expect to see multiple parts to their Historical Omake like Camille's. Also, some character's Historical Omakes will combine at certain points, such as Camille and Rayner's will combine after a certain point, and then that will run into Salina's before running into another character or two's history before finishing up. So, if you want to refine your character's history (or if you come up with new magic spells, cause having more makes it easier for me), feel free to do that and send it back into me, but if you do plan on extending their history, try very hard to avoid involving members of Fairy Tail otherwise I can't be sure of how many conflicting pasts I'll have and then I'll have to ask a bunch of you to redo the history and that's just inconvenient for everybody, make sense?

Onto review responses! I'd like to thank lexlovesya, SaiyaStyles, MyDearWatson, potentialauthor18, WaterDragonMaverick, FrozenBlast13, Joshua1277, Hikari, Guest (I think I'll call you Stan, or Stanette if your a girl), LightandDarkHeart, and Falling Lanterns for their reviews for the Historical Omake.

**lexlovesya- **Yeah, Camille's early childhood was pretty rough, but the strange thing is, Camille doesn't hate her father, otherwise she wouldn't be worrying about making him proud or disappointing him. But anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**SaiyaStyles- ***Nods in agreement* Very tough love.

**MyDearWatson- **Well Hello Once Again MyDearWatson! Yeah, I never expected anyone to feel sad for Philemon when he died and Morgana was more or less a doormat character whose only real importance in the grand scheme of things was that she gave birth to Camille and then died about 10 years later. I'm glad that liked my introduction of Zander and you'll notice that only one other character voiced themselves thinking that Camille was a boy, which was intentional given the similarities between the two. That was my biggest worry actually, getting all the different members of the Ealdwine family's personalities down, but it's good to hear that they all came out just right. Yeah, such huge displays of affection were a completely foreign idea to Camille, so she didn't really know what was happening at the time and she still isn't really sure what to think about things like that since Christopher was the only one to do stuff like that to her. Well some good news is that I have the next point where we continue Camille's Historical Omake all figured out, the bad news is that it won't be until after the next arc, but oh well.

**potentialauthor18- **It's all right if that thing called real life keeps you busy, happens to all of us really at some point or another (...don't I know that now). But yeah, I was hoping to surprise people with that omake since I said absolutely nothing about it after chapter 10. But anyways, Zander can be a pretty nice guy now that he's matured compared to his Thunder Stone counterpart (who is 19-20, in that omake he was 29-30, which makes him about 36-37 now in the story). And I'm glad that I could tug on some heartstrings.

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Bittersweet is a good word for Camille's early history, but I'm happy to hear that you think that I did so well with that omake and we'll just have to see how I do with everyone else.

**FrozenBlast13- **Oh hey! A new reviewer with a name! I'd do a little dance for you but I'm not sure how... ('.') ('.'^) ^('.'^) (^'.'^) (^'.')^ (^'.') ('.') How's that? Your own little Kirby dance! Anyways, since we only have Camille's point of view when it comes to what Philemon said, I'm leaving that all up to good ol' reader interpretation!

**Joshua1277- **Yeah Camille had it pretty tough there at the start (I actually teared up just a tiny bit while writing), but she was in good hands once Zander found her. Callin' the ZanQuinn? Good Call.

**Hikari- **It is as WaterDragonMaverick said, I believe the most famous use of the name Jareth was David Bowie's character in Labyrinth. Although I'm not sure if that's where MyDearWatson got the name, I never asked. Did you try to see if resetting your password fixed the problem? Or maybe just getting a new account straight-out fixes the problem? Just some ideas is all. Well, we won't get to see more of Camille's past until the end of the next arc (I don't even know if we'll see another historical omake between then and now though, but details, shmeetails).

**Stan/Stanette (or Guest if you prefer)- **Well Stan/Stanette, you see Stan/Stanette, I'm really glad that you liked Zander so much and if you want to see a younger Zander and Quinn, then check out MyDearWatson's Thunder Stone if you haven't already, Stan/Stanette.

**LightandDarkHeart- **Well at least Philemon got what was coming to him for how he treated Camille. And both Camille and Zander are very sentimental characters when it comes to mementos like Camille's necklace or Zander's beanie, those being the most important ones that they have.

**Falling Lanterns- **It's alright if you can't think of what to say in a review, I'm pretty horrible at deciding what I want to leave in a review as so I often just sit and stare at the screen for like an hour before figuring out what I want to say, so I don't review for many stories. Anyways, yeah little Camille acted like a boy and kinda looked like a boy too, so she was often mistaken for one when she was a kid. It even happens to her sometimes now even since her build looks like a lean male build.

**Credits:**

**Aurora- dreadburner94**

**Proclus (Horsey-kun)- dreadburner94**

I don't own Fairy Tail! Or Lamia Scale...

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 11<strong>

Euclid looked out of his office window, the sun was setting, turning the sky a vibrant crimson with a hint of orange and violet in it. He watched a bandaged man walk away from the building before disappearing entirely.

"Heh... Hahahahaha!" Euclid laughed as he spun around to look at his payment for the task that the man had given him, a large silver-plated 7-shot revolver pistol. At a glance, it looked like an ordinary gun, but it was a powerful magic weapon with none like it in the rest of the world.

"Was the deal really that good?" an emotionless voice asked from the far corner of the office.

Euclid looked over to the young girl standing in the corner, she had been in his employ for a few years now and she was one of the few that he trusted. The girl stood at 5'4" with a pale complexion and a thin build. She had emotionless green eyes and black hair that was tied into a high, wavy ponytail while her bangs framed her face and slightly covered her eyes. She was wearing a knee-length, black dress that flared out around her knees with black frills on the bottom of the dress. Over that she wore a dark purple, hooded cloak that had gold trim and she also had on black stockings with tall, brown boots and a bronze, runic pendant on a rope necklace.

"Yes, I think it was Aurora," Euclid answered as he looked at an ancient pendant that had the image of a dragon head on it that was sitting on his desk next to the weapon, "That man is almost as good as me when it comes to collecting information," he admitted as he picked up the pendant and examined it, "So it isn't really surprising that he knew what happen outside of Acalypha Town, or that he knows about that girl," he continued in a quiet tone before he started laughing again, "Oh this is perfect!" he exclaimed as he dropped the pendant on his desk before hopping around it and over to Aurora, "Finally! Everything we've worked so hard to start is finally beginning!" he laughed as he grabbed Aurora's hands and began jumping up and down while the girl just stared at him.

"May I deliver my report now?" she asked as Euclid suddenly stopped jumping and smirked in affirmation, "I've narrowed down one of the locations the artifact may be held, it's near Oshibana Town," Aurora explained in her emotionless tone as Euclid's smirk broke out into a large smile.

"This is perfect!" he exclaimed, "There are mages from Undine's Cove headed on a mission to Oshibana Town right now! This'll be fun, this'll be fun, this'll be fun, this'll be FUN!" he shouted like an excited child, "We should go right now!"

"What about Proclus?" the girl asked as Euclid began pulling her out of his office.

"Oh, he's preoccupied at one of our safehouses," he explained with a small chuckle.

**. : + : .**

"Kitty-kun!" Vladimir exclaimed while he gave the black and white tabby cat a tight hug.

"DAMN YOU EUCLID!" Proclus screamed while being squeezed by the injured Schrodinger.

**. : + : .**

"I wonder what the Lamia Scale mages will be like?" Yune wondered while the three of them sat in the cabin on the train, Ladon taking up one side by himself so that he could get some more sleep before the mission.

"They're probably going to be full of themselves since they're the 'second strongest guild'," Wilhelm scoffed while he tapped his foot nervously.

"You might have a point," Yune mumbled, she didn't like thinking poorly of things or people, but often times it was just easier to since there would be less disappointment that way. Yune continued to think while Wilhelm kept tapping his foot, seemingly in rythm with Ladon's light snores, until a familiar figure walked past, "Oh! Aspen!" Yune exclaimed when she saw the young woman walk past their cabin, "I didn't know you were on this train," she admitted while Wilhelm's tapping picked up speed, "Are you going to Shirotsume Town too?" she asked.

"Yeah," Aspen answered with a nod, "There's a case of kidnappings going on there," she explained.

"Maybe our missions are connected?" Yune pondered while Ladon woke up with a yawn.

"I doubt it," he muttered, "We'll be leaving not long after we get there," Ladon explained while he unzipped his sleeping bag enough to where he could sit up, "We're just meeting the Lamia Scale mages there, then we're leaving again by carriage."

"_All passengers please return to your seats, we will be arrived in Shirotsume Town shortly," _a voice announced over the trains intercom.

"Best of luck on your mission," Aspen said as she began walking back to her seat.

"Good luck to you too!" Yune called out after her as the train began to slow down, eventually coming to a stop in the new train station.

"The Lamia Scale mages should already be here, right?" Wilhelm asked as he stood up and grabbed his scimitar from the storage area above his seat.

"That's what Salina said," Ladon sighed as he stood up and walked out of the cabin and off of the train, his teammates following him.

"Is that a dog-man?" Yune asked in bewilderment as she saw a man with dog-like features yelling at another man with incredibly large eyebrows who appeared to be trying to calm down the dog-man. Nearby the two of them were two more people, a young man with hardly any clothes on and spiky silver hair, and a woman with long and wavy pink hair who was saying something about love.

"What's up with them?" Wilhelm wondered as the three of them just stood there and watched the strange scene.

"I think those are our Lamia Scale mages," Ladon sighed as he saw the guild mark on the silver-haired man's chest, "Come on," he said as he began walking towards the four strange people.

"Um... Excuse me," Yune called out to the four mages, getting their attention "Would you four happen to be the mages from Lamia Scale that we were sent to meet up with? We're from Undine's Cove."

"Hm?" the silver-haired man hummed as he looked at the three mages, looking at each of them for, presumably, a guild mark and stopping his search when Ladon held up his hand to show his guild mark, "You're the mages from Salina's guild then?" he asked coolly with an air of confidence about him.

Ladon nodded in response to the older man, "And you're the mages from Lamia Scale then?" he asked in response, receiving an affirmative nod in return as well, "Well then we should probably get go-," he started to say as he opened his mouth wide and let out a long yawn, with little tears forming in his eyes as Yune began to yawn as well.

"WAKE UP DAMMIT!" the dog-man yelled, agitated by the yawning.

"Calm down Toby!" the man with large eyebrows shouted, "Should we wait until tomorrow to leave?"

"No, they work better at night actually," Wilhelm stated while tapping his foot in a seemingly nervous manner.

"I'm Lyon Vastia by the way," the silver-haired man said as he held out his hand towards his teammates, "These are my teammates, Toby, Yuka, and Sherry," Lyon stated as he pointed at each of them in turn.

"Right," Wilhelm sighed as he looked at his two yawning teammates, "I'm Wilhelm, that's Ladon and Yune," he said briefly as Yune stopped yawning.

"Where's your shirt?" she asked suddenly, causing Lyon to look down and notice that he had taken off his, blue, tunic-like shirt, sending him into a small panic until he had found it and put it back on.

"Do you think you need a few more hours of sleep?" Wilhelm asked Ladon while he ignoring Lyon's struggle.

"A few more hours of good sleep couldn't hurt," he admitted with another yawn, "It's still fairly early," he stated as he looked up at the clock that read seven o'clock pm.

"Mind if we wait a few hours before going?" Wilhelm asked Lyon as the man finished putting on his shirt, "Ladon could use some more sleep before going,"

"I don't mind," Lyon answered, "We can talk in the meantime."

Wilhelm's eye twitched for a slight second before he turned around, "I'm going for a walk," he said coldly as he walked off, leaving Yune with the Lamia Scale mages and Ladon who was getting comfortable on a bench.

"Sorry," Yune apologized with a bow, "Wilhelm doesn't take very well to new people or groups," she explained, still bowing.

"I see," Sherry responded, "He must be troubled... by love," she said dramatically, causing Yune to stare at the older woman with a blank and confused look.

"Eh? I'm not sure that I understand."

"Just forget about it," Lyon interrupted before Yune wound up even more confused, "How's Salina been?"

"Master Salina has been very well!" Yune answered cheerfully, "I feel like there was something that she wanted me to tell you... Oh yeah! Hi!" she said as she cheerfully waved like Salina would, causing the four Lamia Scale mages to chuckle a little bit.

"Sounds like she's doing well, despite the bad terms she left on," the Ice-Make mage said with a small smile, confusing Yune.

"What happened?"

"It's a sorrowful tale of love..." Sherry sighed with a distant look in her eyes.

"More like Archer being an ass and Salina and Ooba Babasaama not getting along like always," Lyon clarified as Yune began to blush at the thoughts entering her head.

"_Did she leave Lamia Scale because of a lover's quarrel?" _she thought as her entire head turned beat red, "H-hey," Yune called out while she nervously poked her index fingers together, "Wh-what was Archer to Salina?"

"They hated each other. Oooon," Toby answered.

"But I heard from Jura that they used to get along," Yuka finished.

"_L-lover's quarrel!" _Yune thought as she turned even more red, _"Was our guild really made by a lover's quarrel!?"_

"Is she alright? Oooon," Toby asked as they watched Yune flail about in a flustered manner.

"I'm not sure," Lyon said with a slight sweat drop.

**. : + : .**

Aspen walked through the streets of Shirotsume Town after departing from the train station. Ever since Duke Everlue was imprisoned 6 years ago, Shirotsume Town had abandoned it's feudalism system and was instead ran by an elected mayor, who happened to be the man that had hired her and who she was going to go see.

Aspen looked around through the shops, most of them were closed though, due to the time of day.

"Looks like the kidnappings have everyone spooked," she muttered as she observed the empty streets. Normally, people would still be out and about at this hour, headed to pubs and taverns to go drink, but it seemed that most of the people of Shirotsume thought that it was too dangerous to walk around this late, "Well this must must be the place," Aspen sighed as she came across a small, red brick building with a sign that read 'Mayor's Office' out in front of it and the lights in the windows were on, so she assumed that someone was present inside the building as she walked up to it and knocked on the door, entering when she heard a muffled 'come in'.

"How may I help you this evening?" A cheerful woman asked from behind a wood desk.

"I'm here from Undine's Cove to resolve the kidnappings," Aspen stated as she held out the request form, "May I speak to the mayor?"

The secretary looked at the request form before smiling and nodding, "Yes, please go right ahead. The mayor is currently in his office there," she said as she pointed to a door that had a small plaque that read 'Mayor' on it, "Please help the town," the woman requested with a small bow.

"Of course," Aspen responded as she knocked on the mayor's door and entered.

"Hm? Oh hello there!" a short and stout man with brown, combed-over hair and mustache greeted, "I take it from the conversation you had with my secretary that you're hear to resolve our problem.

Aspen looked down at the older man, she guessed that he only stood at about 5'1", but he was very broad and he wore a blue suit with white pinstripes on it with a red tie, white dress shirt, and brown dress shoes.

"My name is Karl Wordsmith and I'm the mayor of Shirotsume Town as you've no doubt gathered."

"Aspen Weathercroft. What can you tell me about what's been going on in town?" she asked.

The mayor's expression turned grim before he started, "Straight to business then. Well as you know, we've had a recent stream of kidnappings here in Shirotsume Town. It's mostly been children and adolescents so far, but here and there a grown person disappears, although there have only been two cases of that so far and they disappeared at the same time."

Aspen raised her hand to her chin in thought, there must be some reason for only two adults to have been kidnapped, "Do you have any ideas of who's behind it?"

"Not really... the only man who would have a reason to do something like this to Shirotsume Town is still locked behind bars last I heard," Mayor Karl explained.

"Are there any suspicious spots in town?"

"Well... there's the old Everlue Manor, part of it's been rebuilt ever since it was blown up, but everyone decided that it wasn't worth rebuilding it all the way since the money and materials could be used for something else."

"That's sounds as good of a place to start as any then," Aspen stated as she turned and headed for the door.

"Good luck!" the mayor called out after her.

**. : + : .**

Hughes stepped out of the carriage, Ziv and Zain following him out as they reached their destination.

"This is as far as I can take ya," the carriage driver said, "The terrain from here on out is too rough for the carriage."

"That's alright," Hughes responded with a smile, "You wouldn't be able to be a carriage driver if one of your wheels broke, so we understand."

"Do you know where we're going sis?" Zain asked as he looked at the map Ziv was holding.

"We should keep going southeast," Ziv explained as she pointed in the general direction, "The client said that he found the ruins not too far in, but they were filled with too many monsters and traps for him to go in and expect to survive."

"So he hired us to go in and get the treasure for him?" Zain asked.

"Basically."

"Don't worry Zain, we'll get a cut," Hughes reassured, "Otherwise it wouldn't be a fair trade."

"We better," Zain huffed as the trio began walking through the thick foliage.

"It's getting pretty dark out... don't you think?" Ziv muttered with a hint of nervousness in her voice after about twenty-five minutes of walking.

"Yeah, but I think we're almost there," Hughes responded, "The client said that there was a clearing in front of the ruins that we can use for a campsite," he explained.

"Anyone else smell wood burning?" Zain asked suddenly.

Hughes sniffed the air for little bit, checking to see if he could smell it, "Yeah that's the smell of wood burning alright. A campfire maybe?"

"You mean there are other people in these woods?" Ziv asked, "What if they're here for the treasure?"

"Then we're just going to have to blow them away," Zain announced confidently.

"Yo!" they heard a cheery voice say from behind them, causing the three of them to jump, "Hahahaha! That was great!" the man laughed after watching their reaction.

"Who are you!?" Ziv hissed.

"Normally it's a courtesy to introduce yourself before asking for someone's name," the man explained, "But! I already know your names, Ziv, Zain, and Hughes! Correct?" the man asked rhetorically, leaving the trio shocked.

"How did you?" Hughes mumbled.

"How did I know?" the man asked, "I knew because I know almost everything worth knowing," the man explained in a sinister tone.

"Euclid," they heard an emotionless voice call out as a young girl no older than Zain walked towards them from the direction of the ruins, "Are you finished?"

"I suppose," he sighed as he placed his hands in his jacket pockets, "You three are here for the same thing we are right? So how about a little competition?"

"A competition?" Ziv mumbled.

"That's right. The rules will be simple! Whoever finds the treasure first wins! The winners get to keep the treasure for themselves and do whatever they please with it while the losers walk away with nothing!" Euclid explained with a large smirk on his face, "Does that sound acceptable?"

Zain looked over at Hughes with a large smile as Hughes wore his own smile and nodded back at Zain, "You bet it does! You're going down!" Zain announced as he pointed straight at Euclid, who continued looking at the trio with a smirk on his face.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he said as he picked up a stone a threw it in the air, "We start we that stone hits the ground!" he announced as the stone flew up into the air and back down to the ground, "GO!" he shouted as both teams took off towards the ruins.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there we have it! It's a bit shorter, but I didn't want to keep you all waiting any longer. So once again, sorry that this one took so long, but illness and real life called and I had no choice but to respond. Anyways, I'm going to be kinda busy this week too, but I should have enough time to get another chapter out, hopefully.

Well, anyways, as I said I'll try to make up for the missed weeks eventually, but I don't know when.

I'm still accepting villains! See Chapter 10 for details.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Please remember to review!

Your sleepy host,

dreadburner94.


	14. Demon Skull

**A/N: **Yo! Dreadburner94 here with chapter 12! I don't think that I have anything real important to talk about today... so onto the review responses!

Although a small note first, all of the names of Euclid's Gem Magic spells came out in German for some reason.

I'd like to thank LightandDarkHeart, WrittenWhim, MyDearWatson, Hikari, WaterDragonMaverick, Fairy Machine Gun, Joshua1277, QueenKazza, FrozenBlast13, and ViennaxSky for their reviews last chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart- **Yeah it was just one thing right after the other there for a little while in my real life, still have some things that are popping up but that's just how it goes. Yune is a pretty cute character and strange is a good word for Euclid. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**WrittenWhim- **I'm feeling much better than I was, still have a bit of cold though, but I can work through that. Anyways, I'm glad that you like Euclid so much and it would be very strange if Undine's Cove was created by a lover's quarrel.

**MyDearWatson- **Yes, the 'Bandaged Man', they must never know... at least for a long while, but we're not going to see him again (we'll hear about him here and there though) until the last few arcs if all goes according to plan. It's such a relief to hear that the canon characters were kept in, well, character. They were without a doubt the thing I was most nervous about with the last chapter, I just hope I can keep it up in this one as well. I wouldn't say that Euclid is underestimating them, just that he knows more or less everything about them and their abilities, so he's pretty confident in himself and his chances.

**Hikari- **No, no crises here, existential or otherwise, just being too busy to work on this and being too sick to work on it as well. Labyrinth was a movie by the way. And you'll just have to wait and see who all are going on missions next.

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Yes, last chapter was one huge exception to my schedule. I was feeling better and I felt the want to write, so I did. Plus I had missed a week without any explanation so I was feeling guilty. I wouldn't say that Euclid has the mind of a child at all, after all, if he did he wouldn't be as nearly of a successful Information Broker. He's just blithe and excitable half the time and manipulative and sinister the rest of the time. Yeah, since you left the history of Schrodinger to me, he's got a bit of a history with Proclus so he's pretty attached to the disembodied voice. As for who Archer is, you all will just have to wait a few story arcs to meet him.

**Fairy Machine Gun- **Ooh! A new reviewer with a name! Or maybe you've reviewed before under the guise of 'Guest', I don't know. Anyways, I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter and Yune is a pretty cute character.

**Joshua1277- **Yep, my plans are to keep you all in the dark regarding what Euclid is after up until the very end, so there'd be a bit of a problem for me if you had managed to figure out what the Info Broker is after already. And there is much more to the founding of the guild than a lover's quarrel. If there wasn't, then I don't think that I would be very qualified to write this. Yep, hopefully the race through the ruins will be interesting since Euclid and Aurora are there to spice things up.

**QueenKazza- **Don't worry, I'm all better now except for what's left of a cold, but that shouldn't last too much longer and it's easily ignored. The Lamia Scale mages were my biggest worry honestly, so it's good to hear that they were kept in character, and Sherry... yeah... that's about all I have to say on her. I have a lot of fun writing Euclid, and he has fun doing pretty much anything (including being incredibly manipulative and villainous), and Aurora is a pretty interesting character as well, but I don't think I'll be going into any of Euclid's gang's pasts for a long time. And showing vs. telling is something that I've always struggled with (but believe me when I tell you that I've gotten a lot better than I was a year ago), so it's something that I'm always looking to get better at. So anyways, hopefully I'll do better at it this chapter since I'm not writing it at midnight and beyond.

**FrozenBlast13- **Yep, all better now and not as busy, still kinda busy but not busy enough to keep me from working on this. And hopefully the Team Hughes vs. Euclid and Aurora will turn out good, but I'm pretty excited about writing it this chapter and the next as well.

**ViennaxSky- **Glad to hear that Euclid has caught your interest and Team Ladon and Team Lyon working together is bound to be interesting as well. As for the reasons behind the founding of Undine's Cove, you'll learn all about that in Salina Velvet's Historical Omake that will most likely happen towards the end of the story and yes, you'll be meeting Archer. And real life does have me rather busy at the moment, so it's been rather difficult to find time to write, but next week should be much better in terms of how busy I am.

**Credits:**

**Mindy Everlue- MyDearWatson**

I don't own Fairy Tail! Or Lamia Scale!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 12<strong>

Aspen looked down on the ruined Everlue mansion. As the mayor had said, most of it was left unfinished, but enough had been rebuilt so that someone could stay there and still be relatively comfortable and it was large enough to hide people in.

Aspen jumped down out of the tree she was sitting in and ran up to the side of the building, figuring that if someone was hiding out here then she shouldn't just walk through the front door,

"Temperature Magic: Thermal Flux," Aspen whispered as she placed her hand on a window and melted away the glass before reaching in and unlocking the window, "This place is relatively clean for a place that's been abandoned," Aspen muttered quietly to herself as she looked around, her eyes eventually falling on an expensive looking tea set, "And this looks like it was just used," she observed as she walked over to the door and slowly opened it so that she could look around, leaving the small room behind when she decided that no one was in the large foyer.

Aspen walked through the large room, sticking to side under the ruined balcony so that she could hide in the shadows it provided, "It looks like the second floor has been left untouched by the repair efforts," Aspen mumbled as she observed the completely ruined staircases, "So that's a large part of the mansion that I don't need to check," she reasoned since most kidnappers want something in return for the hostages and keeping them upstairs was most likely too dangerous of an area to keep them in.

"There's a hole in this window!" Aspen heard a voice shout from the room that she was in, "Someone's broken into the mansion!" she heard the voice continue to shout as she ran into the nearest room to see a rusted, golden toilet that resembled the face of the mansion's former master, Duke Everlue.

"Damn, of all the places to hide in," Aspen cursed as she quickly looked for a place to hide in the small bathroom, her eyes landing on a small hole in the wall behind the toilet, "There's a draft, a secret passage?" she muttered as she examined the hole and began looking for something to open up the passage way, "Ugh... really? In there?" she moaned when she eventually found a lever inside of the Duke Everlue-shaped toilet, "Better than getting caught," Aspen sighed as she rolled up her sleeve and reached into the toilet to grab the lever, the wall behind the toilet opening up as she pulled back on the lever, "I'm just going to deny that ever happened," she mumbled as she pulled her arm out of the toilet and ran into the secret passage, the wall closing behind her.

Aspen followed the passage farther and farther down, eventually coming to what appeared to be the sewer that ran beneath the mansion, "Thermal Sense," Aspen called out as she held her hand out in front of her, before taking off to her right where she sensed multiple, human-shaped shifts in temperature, believing that they might be the missing people.

"Stop right there ugly!" Aspen heard someone call out as she reached the room the people were in, "You're trespassing in Madame Mindy's home!" the person continued as Aspen turned around to see four hideous maids behind her.

"Where did you...?" Aspen mumbled as she looked at the wall behind the maids and seeing four holes in the wall that hadn't been there before, "Earth Magic," she observed.

"Hey stop ignoring us ugly!" a skinny maid with a large head shaped like a sideways oval demanded.

"You're the ones who've been going around kidnapping people aren't you?" Aspen asked as she finally acknowledged the maids.

"Yeah? So what? They all deserved it!" a plump maid with pointy ears retorted.

"After what they all did to Duke Everlue and Madame Mindy's parents they're the villains here! Not- Ack!" the first maid started to say as Aspen leaped towards the maids and elbowed the woman in the face.

"Thanks for admitting it," Aspen said coldly as she picked up the maid by the face, "Thermal Flux!" she announced as she began to freeze the maids face until she went unconscious, "Which one is next?" she asked as the other three maids dived into the ground, "Thermal Sense!" Aspen yelled as she side-stepped and grabbed a maid as she jumped out of the ground before throwing her into the next maid, "Glacial Lock!" Aspen yelled as she froze the maids and the air around them.

"You'll pay for that ugly!" the final maid yelled as she grabbed Aspen's ankles and pulled her into the ground.

"Arid Haze!" Aspen yelled as she was roughly pulled through the dirt, causing the moisture around the maid to heat up, quickly causing the maid to tire out enough so that Aspen could break free and stomp on the maids head until she was unconscious. Aspen climbed up out of the hole and looked at all the scraps on her body before walking back over to the door and opening it, seeing seven people sitting inside, five children and adolescents and two adults.

"Who are you?" an older man with gray hair and a small, dark gray mustache asked.

"Aspen Weathercroft," she answered, "Your mayor hired me to get to the bottom of these kidnappings and to find you all."

The man's expression lit up before turning to one of shock, "Behind you!" he yelled as Aspen turned around and saw a wall of Rune Magic form in the doorway with a young woman on the other side of it.

"Madame Mindy Everlue," the woman said in a cold tone as she introduced herself.

**. : + : .**

Where did those two go?" Hughes wondered as he, Ziv, and Zain ran through the ruins.

"I don't know, it's like they disappeared," Ziv responded between breaths as they continued running, "Wait!" Ziv yelled suddenly as she and her teammates stopped.

"What is it? Why're we stopping" Zain asked impatiently.

"Do you feel that?" she asked as she placed her ear against the wall.

"The ground's shaking," Hughes muttered as he noticed.

"It sounds like... footsteps?" Ziv said as she continued to stand with her ear against the wall.

"Get back!" Zain yelled as he pulled his sister and Hughes back away from wall just before the stone was sent flying by a large, horned creature.

"Haha!" they heard a familiar voice laugh, "It's been too long since I fought something like this!"

"You should be more careful, Euclid," a dull voice chastised as the monster roared angrily before charging again, tearing out more of the wall in between them in the process.

"It's a... Minotaur," Hughes gasped as they looked at the large beast, "They still exist?"

"I thought those things all died out!" Ziv yelled as they stood back up and prepared to fight.

"They'll all be dead once we're through with it!" Zain yelled as he took off his necklace and transformed it into a sword as the trio ran through the hole in the wall and after the Minotaur.

"Gem Magic: Blitz Ein!" Euclid yelled as he held out a yellow gem that released a bolt of lightning magic towards the Minotaur that crackled around the beast's arm before exploding, "No effect," Euclid muttered as the monster just shrugged off the lightning and kept charging, "Aurora!"

"Of course... Euclid," the girl muttered as she drug her hand across the stone wall, "Static Magic: Boundary Field," she mumbled as a field of static electricity appeared around her hand before flowing down the wall and creating a field of electricity between them and the Minotaur that caused the beast to stop in it's tracks and roar out in pain upon contact with the field.

"Moon God's Bellow!" they heard from down the hall as a stream of black magic with a pale blue outline flew towards the Minotaur and exploded upon contact with it's back, scarring it. The Minotaur slowly turned around to face the three newcomers before letting out a loud roar and charging down the hall towards them.

"Heh," Euclid smirked, "This way Aurora!" he yelled as he ran down a hall with Aurora right behind him, leaving the three mages alone with the Minotaur.

"That coward!" Ziv yelled as she watched them run off, "They could at least stay and help!"

"Can't do anything about it now! Here it comes!" Hughes yelled as the Minotaur ran down the hall at full speed, "Acid Magic: Acid Whip!" Hughes yelled a whip made of acid formed in his hands as he swung in a broad arc in front of the Minotaur, burning a crater into the ground and causing it to trip, "Now!" he yelled.

"Sun God's Howl!" Ziv yelled before releasing a stream of black magic that had a pale yellow outline towards the ceiling above the Minotaur as Zain released his own Howl towards the beast as they watched it get buried beneath the rubble, "Is it dead?" Ziv asked cautiously.

"I think so," Hughes answered as they heard another roar behind them as they turned and saw another Minotaur charging at them.

"Artillery Shot!" they heard Euclid yell from a hall that the Minotaur was running past, the beast falling down into the wall when a bolt of fire magic flew into it's side and exploded, "Nice catch, Aurora," he said with a smirk as he walked out of the hall with a large, silver plated pistol in his right hand.

"Nothing escapes my Spirit Tracker Magic," the young girl said with a hint of pride in her emotionless voice as they examined the monster's motionless body.

"Hahaha!" Euclid laughed as the pistol disappeared back into his requip space, "One shot was all it took! That man really did help make that magic!" he shouted as he continued to laugh until he calmed down, "I guess I'll really have to keep my end of the bargain now," he said in a sinister tone.

"That guy is trouble," Hughes mumbled, "We should get out of here," he said as he took off down the hall with Ziv and Zain behind him.

"Haven't we seen a spell like that before?" Ziv asked as they kept running in the opposite direction of the strange man and his accomplice.

"Yeah!" Zain shouted, "Doesn't Ca-," he started to say when a field of electricity cut them off.

"Going somewhere?" Euclid asked nonchalantly from a side passage in front of them, "Heh... hahaha!" he laughed when he saw the trio's serious expressions, "Don't worry, we're just going to restart our little competition from here," he said in a sinister tone as the electrical field disappeared and Aurora appeared next to Euclid.

"We should just kill them," she said coldly, "Leaving them alive is dangerous."

"I'd like to see you try!" Zain yelled as he stepped in front of his sister.

"Killing them would be a bad move," Euclid said suddenly, shocking the trio, "They have their uses and it'd be boring to just off them," he stated casually as if talking about killing people was a normal thing.

"You're a monster," Ziv mumbled in disgust, "You're treating killing people, killing us, like it's a game!"

"Isn't it though? Humans are such interesting creatures, I love them all really," he responded with a large smile on his face, "Figuring who they are, what they've done, what they're going to do, how they think, what it'll take to drive them insane! Everyone in this world is just so interesting and fun! I love them all!" he continued as he gestured and moved around theatrically before stopping suddenly as his arms dropped down to his side and his back to the trio, "But... I want to know... No... I NEED to know..."

"Euclid... You shouldn't say anymore," Aurora interrupted as Euclid fell silent as he bent down and picked up a rock.

"Right..." he mumbled before turning to face the trio again, a smirk on his face again, "Once again we start when the rock hits the ground! All the previous conditions apply," he announced as he threw the rock back into the air, both groups taking off once the rock hit the ground.

"We can't let someone like that win," Hughes hissed, disgusted with Euclid.

"Yeah, someone like him shouldn't even be allowed to walk freely," Ziv added as they ran, "He treats people like toys!"

"So let's win this thing!" Zain yelled as he pumped himself up as they ran further into the ruins.

**. : + : .**

Wilhelm sat in between the sleeping Ladon and Yune with an agitated look on his face while the four mages from Lamia Scale sat across from them. Fortunately the carriage was wide enough for all seven of them to fit in it, but it was a tight squeeze on the Lamia Scale side.

"We should be arriving soon," Lyon announced as he broke the silence, they had been squeezed into that carriage for about an hour and Wilhelm's legs were beginning to cramp up and Ladon's head was awkwardly leaning on Wilhelm's while Yune leaned against his arm.

"About time," Wilhelm grumbled, "Hey, Yune, wake up," he said as he gave the girl a small push to wake her up.

"Yaaaaawwwwn... morning already?" Yune mumbled as she sat up rubbed her eyes, which had small tears in them from yawning.

"No, we're here," Wilhelm answered as Yune remembered where she was and what she was doing.

"That's right the mission!" she exclaimed a she tapped her open hand with her fist.

"Now I just have to wake up Reginald," Wilhelm sighed as he looked at the sleeping man next to him, "Oi! You look like a dog," he said coldly towards Toby.

"WHAT'D YOU SAY!" he started to shout as a black snake appeared and wrapped around Toby before exploding.

"You're noisy," Ladon grumbled as he opened an eye and looked at the crispy Toby while the rest of the dog-man's team looked on in shock, "I guess the rides over then," he said with a yawn as he stretched out his arms before opening the door and stepping out of the carriage that had just stopped, his team and the Lamia Scale mages following him out.

"You remember the name of the guild we'll be fighting, right?" Wilhelm asked Yune as they stepped out of the carriage.

"Umm... Demon... Skull?" Yune mumbled as she tried to remember.

"That's right," Lyon said as he walked up to the two mages, "We'll be fighting the Dark Guild Demon Skull. It's a small guild with only five members, but they've been causing too much trouble for such a small guild."

"Right, so the Magic Council figured that they're up to something and wanted some Legal Guilds to come and take care of them," Wilhelm finished.

"Isn't that odd though? That the Magic Council is sending Mage Guilds instead of the Rune Knights?" Yune asked while Yuka and Sherry were making sure that Toby was alright.

"It isn't the first time this has happened," Ladon said quietly, "Our guild has been asked to handle a situation like this before, but that wasn't long after our guild was founded," he explained.

"Really? Who went?" Yune asked.

"Salina lead the mission herself since it was just her, Rayner, and Camille at that point," the tired man answered.

"How do you know so much about it?" Wilhelm asked, "This is the first I've ever heard of it as well."

Ladon was quiet for a short while before answering, "I joined the guild not long after it happened," he said quietly, "We should get moving," he said suddenly as he started walking in the direction of the Dark Guild while Lyon eyed him warily as he followed.

"That means Reginald has been a part of the guild since almost the beginning," Yune said with a slight bit of awe as she started following the man.

"I wonder..." Wilhelm said quietly to himself before looking over at the other three Lamia Scale mages as they finally got Toby in working condition again before they followed Lyon and the others towards the Dark Guild.

"There it is," Yuka said quietly as the seven mages looked down on the Demon Skull's headquarters from a cliff. It was fairly large for just five members, being a large building that had a dome shaped like a skull that was carved out of stone with four black towers on the corners on the black domed building.

"Looking at the building, wouldn't you say that most likely a member lives in each of those towers while the guild master lives in main dome?" Wilhelm asked as he tried to figure out a plan of attack.

"So should we try to tackle them one at a time or all at once?" Yune asked.

"Splitting up sounds like the most effective plan," Lyon answered, "It'll keep them from providing support to one another if a battle drags out too long. Yuka and Toby will take the northeast tower."

"Ooon! Leave it to us!" Toby yelled as he stood up.

"Calm down and be quiet Toby!" Yuka hissed, "Do you want them to know we're here?"

"Ooon..." Toby mumbled in apology.

"Wilhelm, can you take the northwest?" Ladon asked.

"Sure, it'll be over quickly," he answered confidently.

"Yune and Sherry should take the southwest tower then," Ladon stated, "That way they can split up if the fights in the northwest and southeast towers are still going on."

Yune cautiously looked over at Sherry, still not entirely sure on how to interpret her speech, "I can do that," she said confidently after a short while.

"Our love will overpower the enemy," Sherry stated dramatically.

"I'm not in love with you!" Yune shouted with a deep blush on her face while Lyon just sighed.

"I can distract the guild master while you take the southeast tower," Reginald stated.

"Are you sure?" Lyon asked with a shocked expression, "I can probably fight and beat their guild master by myself."

"It'll be quicker if you all take out the mages and then come and back me up, so that we can overpower him with numbers."

Lyon looked at Ladon for a short while, not necessarily happy about not being the first to fight the guild master, but his plan was a good one, "Alright, we'll take care of our matches quickly before coming to help you," he sighed as he agreed with Ladon before the team split up to head towards their objectives.

**. : + : .**

The sun began to rise in Hargeon as Camille, Rayner, and Miriam stepped out of the jungle, Camille having requipped into a new suit that had a jacket with a split tail.

"Next time you plan on camping in the jungle, give us all a heads up or leave a note," Rayner asked with a smirk, "Miriam was running around like a madwoman looking for you," he added with a snicker that was cut short by Miriam hitting him in the arm.

"Don't listen to that idiot," she said with a slight blush, "You know how much he makes stuff up."

"You shouldn't make fun of Miriam so much, Rayner," Camille chastised like an older sister would.

"Whatever," Rayner said as he shrugged off the scolding, "I've got to go take a dragon down a few notches so try not to disappear anymore!" he exclaimed as he took off towards the male dorm.

"Shouldn't he take things more seriously?" Miriam asked as they watched Rayner trip in the sand before hastily getting back up while laughing at himself.

"It's because of his curse that he acts like that," Camille explained, "If he... If he isn't able to lift the curse, then he at least wants to be able to die without any regrets," she said solemnly.

Miriam stood there quietly for a minute, "I see..." she eventually managed to say, "So he's an even bigger idiot than I thought."

Camille looked at the girl for a moment, knowing that she was only saying that to hide what she actually felt, "I have some business to attend to with Master Velvet," she stated, "So I'll be headed off as well now."

"Eh?" Miriam gawked, "Did something come up?"

"My master gave a warning about a potentially dangerous individual in his letter," Camille explained, "So I need to bring it to Master Velvet's attention immediately."

"Always the serious one," Miriam sighed, "Fine, I'll find something to keep me busy in the meantime," she said as Camille entered the main building and went up the stairs before walking to Salina's office and knocking on the door, eventually hearing a muffled 'come in'.

"Mas- Um... Salina," Camille called out as she entered the office to see Salina sitting at her desk and actually working on her paperwork.

"What?" Salina asked when Camille had stopped talking, "Is it really such a surprise to see me being responsible?" she huffed.

"N-no! Not at all Salina!" she said with a slight bow, as if apologizing, "Um... my Master left a warning in his last letter that he wanted me to bring to your attention!"

"Oh? What about?" Salina asked as she looked at the young woman curiously.

"He said that an information broker named that was going by the name of Euclid has been causing trouble all around Fiore, but it was incredibly difficult to even gather that much information on him," Camille explained in a serious tone, having regained her composure.

"Hm... I see," Salina muttered as she sat and thought for a moment, "We should tell the S-Class mages to keep an ear out for any information on him then, but to be able to hide his tracks so well..."

"He must be very talented," Camille stated as if finishing Salina's thought as the older woman quickly wrote down five notes before standing up and opening the window before letting go of the notes as they flew towards their destinations.

"Well, we'll see how well his talent matches up to Undine's Cove," the guild master said confidently.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there it is! I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!

Now I remembered something that I needed to address. I am looking for two more mages for a legal guild that is not Undine's Cove. But I'll only be taking the two that I like best that are submitted before the next chapter is uploaded. So if you submit a mage for this guild, remember that I won't give you a definite answer on whether or not they'll be accepted until I upload chapter 13. So please use the OC form in the prologue when creating your character. I forgot to mention this, but there are details about this that I need to discuss with anyone that is interested in trying to get a submission in for these two characters spots that I don't want to make public yet. So anyone interested should contact me first to get these details.

Anyways, I'll have the chapter up sometime next week, I'm looking at Thursday right now to give you all time to get in submissions, but no promises on the exact date.

Please remember to review!

Your host,

dreadburner94.


	15. Rhiannon Yates

**A/N: **…... Does no one read the A/N at the end of the chapters? Or am I just going to have to ask people myself and be unfair that way? Cause I can if you all really want me to and I know the perfect person to ask if I can get a hold of them. In fact, only one person did send in an OC, so I'm going to use theirs and ask the person I'm talking about if they're interested. So the moral of the story is make sure you read the ending A/N, sometimes important things get put down there.

Anyways, now that I'm done being disappointed with people... Dreadburner94 here with chapter 13!

I'd like to thank WrittenWhim, WaterDragonMaverick, MyDearWatson, PrinceOfTheMatrix88, potentialauthor18, Joshua1277, SaiyaStyles, and Hikari for their reviews last chapter!

**WrittenWhim- **The maids were just too perfect for what's going on, so I just had to use them. Anyways, yes, Izaya Orihara was a major inspiration for Euclid, but Euclid takes things to extremes as the biggest difference in the two of them, and there are quite a few other things that differentiate them, but they also have similarities as well, such as the fascination with humans and being information brokers. But yeah, it might seem odd that a 5 member dark guild got two guilds to take it down, but you gotta remember that 6 member guild that got four guilds to take it down called Oracion Seis.

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Aspen is quite the fan of solving puzzles, so yeah she makes quite the investigator. I have to say that I think you're over-thinking your theory there though, the why and how are quite a bit simpler than that to be honest (although I shouldn't really expect anyone to fully understand the why and how except for one other person besides me). And nope, not too dark at all for a fic, or for Fairy Tail. And now that I think about, there will be someone else to fill the shadow-esque roll much later in the story (as in one of the last few arcs).

**MyDearWatson- **And you haven't even see everything Aspen can do with her magic yet, so there's more to come in the fight with Mindy... after some dialogue of course (or is it a monologue?). None shall know what goes on in Euclid's head! It is a very strange place in there, very dark and twisted, but it's a treasure trove of information. But seriously now, you won't be learning his true motives for a while. Aye, you'll just have to wait until Ladon's Historical Omake for that tid-bit.

**PrinceOfTheMatrix88- **Well I'm glad that you liked the last chapter, but you'll be waiting quite a while to learn anything substantial about Euclid. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**potentialauthor18- **Creepy was what I shooting for there, so it's good to hear that it came out that way. But yeah, those maids weren't really worth Aspen's time at all and time will tell when it comes to Mindy. Yeah, the saying "Let sleeping dogs lie" exists for a reason, and it describes Ladon perfectly. And speaking of dogs, I once knew a dog named Toby, I called him Tobert though since I was one of the few people he took to instantly (from what I've heard he was quick to bite, but I never saw it since he liked me as soon as he met me). I have to admit, I was worried about how Ladon came out, but every line I wrote him speaking last chapter I felt like it was something he'd say, so it's good to hear that you could imagine him saying those things.

**Joshua1277- **Yeah, Aspen's Temperature Magic is pretty interesting, incredibly simple, yet that's what makes it interesting since there's so much that can be done with it. I'm glad that you thought it was cool to see Team Hughes in action. I have to say, out of all the teams, I think that they have some of the best teamwork in the guild. I hope you enjoy the conclusion of this round of missions!

**SaiyaStyles- **I had the exact same thought run through my head when I was writing that scene actually, but hey, kill or be killed right? But anyways, I'm glad that you enjoyed the last chapter and in appreciation for your patience I figured that I should let you know that it'll be rewarded next round of missions. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Hikari- **I'm happy that you liked the last chapter so much, and yes she (I assume you're talking about Aspen) can do that. But hey, if you can't review right away that's perfectly fine, real life happens unfortunately. And I'll be looking forward to seeing you review with a new account name!

**Credits:**

**Rhiannon "Rhia" Yates- dreadburner94**

**Krieger- WaterDragonMaverick**

**Bradley Maes- WaterDragonMaverick**

**Salem Alphonse- WaterDragonMaverick**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Chapter 13**

* * *

><p>"Madame Mindy Everlue," the woman announced as Aspen turned around.<p>

Aspen looked at the young woman, she had pale skin and light brown hair that was cut at an angle so that the hair in the front was longer than it was in the back. She had light brown eyes and a slim build and small bust and waist. The young woman was wearing a light blue, tunic-like top that was sleeveless with black shorts, a white belt, and short black boots.

"You're the one who treated my maids so poorly aren't you?" Mindy asked with a scowl.

"And I take it that you're the one behind all these kidnappings," Aspen retorted as she walked towards the wall of runes.

"An eye for an eye," the young lady said coldly, "The people of Shirotsume committed the first crime."

"What?"

"They didn't tell you? No, of course they wouldn't. Why would they?" Mindy asked rhetorically, "First they imprison my uncle with the help of Fairy Tail, but that wasn't enough..."

"Duke Everlue started all this!" the elderly man shouted from behind Aspen, "He started it when he imprisoned my father and forced him to write Daybreak!"

"Lies!" Mindy shrieked as her face contorted with anger, "My uncle would never do such a thing! And even if it was true... why did you imprison my parents!?"

Aspen looked back at the elderly man, who she assumed by his outburst that his name was Kaby Melon, and watched as his expression changed to one of shock, "The mayor had her parents arrested without just cause?" Aspen asked in an emotionless tone, to which Kaby nodded in response.

"The town feared her parents after Duke Everlue was taken away... they thought that they would try to take his place," Kaby explained with a guilty look on his face.

"See? There's your confession!" Mindy announced, "The people of Shirotsume are the criminals here."

Aspen looked back at Kaby and the other captives for a short while, before turning back to face Mindy, "That may be so, but I was hired to do a job and I'm going to complete it. Whether I'm in the right or not is secondary."

"Then you can rot here until my demands are met like the rest of them," Mindy said as her expression changed to one of disappointment, "The rules of my magic are absolute and no one can leave that room without my permission."

"Screw the rules!" Aspen shouted as placed her hands up against the wall of runes and clenched her teeth, "Magic Break!" she yelled as the rune wall began to slowly freeze over.

"Wh-what!?" Mindy muttered as her eyes went wide while she watched her magic freeze and crack, "That's impossible!" she yelled as Aspen pulled back her fist and punched through the frozen wall of magic before running through and giving Mindy's jaw a hard left uppercut, sending the woman flying up into the air for a little bit before she fell back down onto the hard metal floor, "I-ingrate!" Mindy gasped as she sat back up, clenching her blood soaked teeth, "You'll pay for that."

"You think so?" Aspen asked as she walked over to Mindy and grabbed her face, "Thermal Flux," she muttered as she heated Mindy's head till the woman lost consciousness.

"Are you all right?" Kaby Melon asked as he walked out of the room, "You don't look to well," he said when he saw that Aspen was sweating and gasping for air.

"I'm fine..." she answered, "Just... tired from using that spell earlier. I'm surprised that it even worked," Aspen admitted as she walked over to the wall and leaned up against it, "Do you all mind caring them back with us?"

"Not at all," Kaby answered as he and some of the adolescents and his wife began to pick up the unconscious Mindy and her maids, "It's the least we can do after you helped us," he said as they began following Aspen out of the mansion and back to the mayor's office.

"That took a lot longer than I thought it would," Aspen mumbled to herself when she noticed that the sun had risen since she first entered the mansion, "So long as the job got done I suppose," she said as she entered the mayor's office without knocking, Kaby and the others following her in.

"Oh!" the secretary gasped when she noticed Aspen enter, "May I help you?"

"The job's done, where's the mayor," Aspen responded coldly.

"M-Mayor Wordsmith is in his office," the secretary answered as Aspen walked over to the mayor's office.

"Drop them over there," Aspen ordered Kaby and the others while pointing to the opposite side of the room from the secretary, "The job's done," she announced as she barged into the mayor's office, startling the short man.

"S-so soon? Who was the culprit?" he asked as he stood up and walked around his desk.

"Mindy Everlue," Aspen answered quietly.

"Everlue..." Mayor Karl repeated as if it was a curse, "Of course it would've been her, I should've known," he added as he furrowed his brow in anger, "But you've solved the problem, so here's your pay, forty-five thousand Jewels as promised."

"There's something else," Aspen said as she took her pay from the man.

"What is it?" he asked as he watched Aspen look away, before turning around completely.

"Nothing... Never mind, it's none of my business what you've done," she said quietly as she walked out of the mayor's office, confusing the short mayor.

**. : + : .**

"It can't be too much farther now!" Hughes yelled as they ran through the ruins.

"It better not be!" Ziv yelled back, "We've been running and fighting for about an hour now!"

"What's up with all these monsters!?" Zain shouted as he side-stepped a small group of goblins as he slashed through them with his sword, "They weren't violent like this before we fought that Minotaur!"

"It might be because the biggest monsters around are gone, but still, something has to be up, goblins only attack if they're threatened," Hughes explained as he summoned a wall of acid, "Acid Wave!" he shouted as the wall of acid raced forward and disintegrated an approaching group of goblins.

"Do you think we entered their nest?" Zain asked they continued running further into the ruins.

"No, goblins make their nests in trees, so they wouldn't have any reason to enter these ruins, especially this far in," Hughes responded as they turned a corner and kept running.

"Wait!" Ziv yelled out suddenly, "There's sunlight nearby!"

"We've been in here that long!?" her brother exclaimed in shock.

"Do you think that's where the treasure is?" Hughes asked.

"Yeah," Ziv nodded as she held up her hand, showing one her sun-shaped tattoos as a light started to trickle towards her from deeper into the ruins, "Follow me!" she yelled as she took off towards the source of the light, "Wait!" she hissed as she suddenly stopped next to a slightly opened door, "Looks like they beat us here," she whispered as she looked into the room to see Euclid sitting on a stone staircase with Aurora not far from him with a goblin with purple and red cat-like eyes sitting on her shoulder.

"So what happened to my cat?" Euclid asked what seemed to be the goblin.

"He's sleeping," the goblin answered in a deep voice, "But I should get back there since I only came to report that she's off on her next assignment finally."

"That woman's more trouble than she's worth," Euclid sighed, "But I suppose we've made enough use of your abilities today," he shrugged as the goblin's eyes changed back to normal as it hopped off of Aurora's shoulder and ran off.

"They're here Euclid," Aurora said quietly as she turned and looked straight at Ziv through the door.

"Shit!" Ziv cursed, "They know we're here."

"Then let's not keep them waiting!" Zain said loudly as he kicked in the door.

Euclid looked at the three of them with an entertained smile on his face, "Welcome," he said sullenly as he stood up and sighed, "What to do with you three?" he asked rhetorically, "I'd hoped to find what I was looking for here, but alas, it wasn't here!" he said dramatically as Aurora looked off to the side.

"My apologies Euclid."

"It's not your fault Aurora, it's the person who supplied you with the information's fault. So we'll have to find him after this," he explained in a blissful tone, "But what to do with all this treasure we don't need?" he asked as he looked at the three mages with a sinister look in his eyes, "You were hired to retrieve this weren't you? So I have a proposal for you three, I want to see what you all can do with my own eyes. Do you think you can handle that?"

"What do you guys think?" Hughes asked as he eyed down Euclid.

"We can take them!" Zain answered energetically, eager for a challenge.

"Those two are dangerous, I don't think this is a good idea," Ziv said quietly, "But we were hired to get that treasure so we don't have a choice do we?"

"I guess we have to take you up on your offer then!" Hughes answered Euclid for his team as the man's face lit up with an eager smile.

"Your move," he said quietly as he placed his hands in his pockets as the three mages rushed towards him.

"Moon God's Crescent Sword!" Zain yelled as he swung his magic enhanced sword horizontally at Euclid as the man bent over backwards and kicked the sword out of Zain's hands as he went into a handstand.

"Zain!" Ziv yelled as she jumped between him and Aurora who was coming in to attack her brother.

"Fall..." the girl muttered as she pulled back an open hand strike that was charged with electricity.

"I don't think so, Sun God's Fist of Light!" she yelled as she caught Aurora's strike and punched the girl's face with her free hand.

"Acid Punch!" Hughes yelled as he came down on Euclid with a fist coated in acid.

"A little too slow," Euclid taunted as he hopped out of the way and pulled out a red gem, "Fueur Zwei!" he yelled as he threw the gem towards Hughes as it released a large explosion, sending the young man flying across the room, "Wasser Drei!" he yelled as he pulled out a blue gem that released a powerful stream of water towards Hughes.

"Shit!" Hughes cursed, "Acid Shield!" he shouted as a shield of acid rose in front of him just in time to block the powerful stream of water.

"Spirit Tracker Magic: Soul Resonance," Aurora muttered as she raised her head back up to face Ziv as she locked eyes with her, "Fall... into the depths of Hell," she said coldly as Ziv grabbed her head in pain and began screaming out in fear.

"Ziv!" Zain screamed as she fell down, trembling, "What did you do?"

"She's experiencing the torment of Hell," Aurora explained coldly as she raised her hand, crackling with electricity, "Do you wish to join her?"

Zain's face contorted with anger as he grit his teeth, "You...! Moon God's Waxing Crescent!" he yelled as he swung his arms around, sending a powerful wave of magic towards Aurora.

"Reverse Polarity!" Aurora announced as she floated up to the ceiling with the unconscious Ziv and out of the range of the spell, allowing herself and Ziv to fall back down when the wave of magic had passed.

"Ziv!" Zain yelled as he ran to catch his older sister as she fell, catching her just before she hit the ground, "Just in time," he sighed as Aurora appeared next to him.

"Rail Strike," she said quietly as she struck him the side with an electricity enhanced open palm strike, sending the siblings across the room with a burst of static electricity.

"Absorbieren!" Euclid yelled as he held out a gem and absorbed Hughes' shield, turning the gem a yellowish green, "Artillery Shot!" he shouted as his magic pistol appeared in his hand and shot the defenseless Hughes at point-blank range, sending him flying across the room and into a wall.

"Gauhg...! Th-this guy... is outta my league," Hughes gasped as he brought his hand up to the burn mark on his chest, _"Should I use... that spell?"_ he wondered as he watched Ziv and Zain fly across the room, "Ziv! Zain!"

"Oh? Sorry about that," Euclid apologized, "Aurora doesn't know how to hold back, but I think this match is settled," he added with a small chuckle, "Aurora! We're finished here!" he called out, causing the girl to stop her assault on the siblings.

"She'll wake up soon," she told Zain in a dull tone before she walked away, back to Euclid's side.

"Well this should help you all recover," Euclid said as he set a small vial down on the ground, "You should appreciate it, healing potions are difficult to come by unless you know a talented alchemist," he explained while Hughes gave him a hard stare, "It's not a trick or anything, after all, if I wanted you dead I would've killed you by now."

"Tch, whatever," Hughes muttered as he took the small vial.

"You three can keep the treasure," Euclid said suddenly as he turned around and began walking with Aurora following him, "What I was looking for wasn't here so I don't need any of it. I'll definitely see you all later, you and your guild," he added as he and his partner began leaving the ruin.

**. : + : .**

"Of all the boring assignments," Rhiannon Yates sighed as she sat on a cliff overlooking the guildhall of Demon Skull, "Reconnaissance? Really?" she continued to grumble as she watched the guildhall with her binoculars, "Shouldn't the 'All Knowing Euclid' already know the results?" she asked sarcastically.

Rhiannon Yates stood at about 5'6" with pale skin and a slim build with an ample bust and curves. She had shoulder length, light brown hair that fell all around her head in thick, stringy locks with her bangs tucked behind her long, pointy ears. She had silver colored eyes that seemed to lack any life in them and her canines where elongated and sharp. Rhia wore a form-fitting black jumpsuit that was unzipped enough to show some cleavage with black boots, black gloves, and she had a pair of goggles around her neck.

"Stupid cat... horse... goblin... vulcan... wyvern... human... disembodied voice thing!" Rhia screamed as she threw her binoculars off the cliff, "I don't get why I have to do assignments when Euclid pays me even if I don't do anything useful..." she groaned as she fell onto her back and pouted like a small child, "Maybe I should find a new employer?" She said as she thought about the man in the beanie that had sought her out, "No... I guess I kinda already found one, but I have to stay with Euclid and... Proclus," she groaned in agitation when she thought about the disembodied voice, "So annoying!" she moaned as a new set of binoculars appeared in her hands as she sat up and resumed her watch on the situation.

**. : + : .**

Yune ran up the stars of the tower, Sherry not far behind her as they ascended.

"How far up do these stairs go?" Yune asked, "We've been climbing stairs longer than it took to get to the guildhall."

"These stairs must have been built with the power... of love," Sherry responded in her dramatic fashion.

"I don't think that's the case," Yune sighed, "Dark Mages aren't known for their love," she added as they began to near the top, "Look the end of the stairs!" she exclaimed as they picked up their pace in excitement.

"We should... catch our breath... first," Sherry gasped as they came to a stop at the top of the stairs.

"Okay, let's hurry and beat this guy so we can go back up Reginald," Yune said after a few minutes of rest.

"Yes, our love will overpower the enemy, no matter how strong they might be," Sherry announced as they began walking down the hallway towards a door at the other end of it.

"I told you we're not in love!" Yune shouted as a heavy blush crept across her face again, "Now let's get going," she said as the door at the end of the hallway quickly opened as a blur of yellow rushed out of it and sent Yune and Sherry flying back down the stairwell.

"Doll Attack: Carpet Doll!" Sherry yelled as the carpet on the stairs came to life and caught them, "The enemy," she said seriously as the carpet set them back down on the stairs.

"The name's Krieger," a voice said from the top of the stair case, revealing a man that stood at about 6'4" with a lean build and pale skin. He had shoulder length gray hair that was tied into a braid and green eyes. The man was wearing an open yellow jacket, a red long-sleeved shirt, black sweatpants, black running shoes, and a pair of gloves, "You ladies are pretty good to still be alive, either of you single?" Krieger asked flirtatiously.

"N-n-n-n-no!" Yune stammered with a heavy blush, "Well... I am single... but..." she said quietly as she poked her index fingers together.

"I only have one true love," Sherry sighed dreamily, "My fiance, Ren Akatsuki."

"You're engaged?" Yune asked in a surprised tone as Sherry continued sighing, "B-but all that 'love' talk!"

"Eh, doesn't matter either way to me really," Krieger stated, getting the two woman's attention again, "I'll just take what I want in the end anyways!" he shouted as he took off at a high speed ramming Sherry into the wall and began choking her until she passed out, but just passing straight through Yune, "Where'd the other one go?"

"Lumire: Illusionaire!" Yune announced as several copies of her appeared throughout the stairwell, each one holding a silver dagger in their hand.

"Heh, this'll be fun," Krieger smirked as he dropped the unconscious Sherry on the stairs, "Quicksilver Magic: Crimson Streak!" he announced as he took off at high speeds again as a switchblade came out of each of his gloves, "Now where's the real one!" he yelled as he began slashing through the many of illusions of Yune before they could react, "Mach Edge!" he screamed as his pace increased drastically as he charged down the stairs.

"Lumire: Artemis Arrow!" he heard Yune call out from above him just in time to see a bolt of magic fly down straight towards him and explode, destroying a large section of the stairs and wall, "Did I get him?" Yune quietly asked herself.

"Not quite," she heard Krieger taunt from behind her, "Friction Palm!" he shouted as Yune turned around to face him as he grabbed her left arm, his hand vibrating fast enough to burn her and crack the bone, causing her to scream out in pain.

"R-Reverie!" she screamed as she locked Krieger in a trance, forcing him to watch his worst nightmare.

"M-my legs!" he gasped as he fell forward and up against the crumbling railing of the staircase, "Wh-what happened to my legs!" he screamed as the stone crumbled away completely under his weight, dropping Krieger down the middle of the spiral stairwell.

"Forgive me..." Yuuna whispered quietly as she heard the man's painful impact on the ground, "Sherry!" she shouted as she remembered her unconscious companion.

**. : + : .**

Wilhelm walked down the hall towards the chamber at the end, eager to reach his objective so that he could rendezvous with Ladon and take on the guild master.

"Welcome," a smooth voice called out as Wilhelm opened the door and entered the large chamber, which was decorated with many skeletal statues and carvings all up and down the walls, "My name is Bradley Maes and you have intruded into my home," the man said as if he was hurt. Wilhelm looked at the man, he appeared to be about 5'7" with a lean build and lightly tanned skin. He had brown eyes and black stubbly beard and crew cut. Bradley wore a dark green dress shirt, brown slacks, black combat boots, and he wore a pair of glasses and was currently putting out his cigarette and tossing it aside, "Might I have your name before I show you the door?"

"Wilhelm," he answered coldly as he pulled his scimitar off his back and pointed it at the man in the center of the chamber, who was putting on a pair of spiked, steel gauntlets.

"Well then, Wilhelm, allow me to show you the way out," he said as he brought his hand up to his glasses, "Light Magic: Lens Flare," he shouted as a blinding light came off of his glasses, forcing Wilhelm to look away as Bradley charged in and punched him through the door and wall behind him.

"Light Magic... shit," Wilhelm cursed as he caught himself and slid to a stop, "Darkness Magic: Ghastly Fireworks!" he yelled as several ghosts made of darkness magic flew from his left, outstretched hand towards Bradley before exploding upon impact.

"Not bad," Bradley stated as the smoke cleared, showing him standing behind a shield of Light Magic, "But your magic is weak against mine, so this battle was decided the moment you chose to come to my tower! Laser Dagger!" he shouted as threw several blades of light towards Wilhelm.

"If I can't count on my magic!" he shouted as he side-stepped a blade of magic and cut down the rest with his sword, "Then I'm just going to have to beat you the old-fashioned way!" he continued as he brandished his blade and charged.

"You're brave, I'll give you that," the middle age-man sighed as he dodged Wilhelm's first attack, "But I'm not the second in command of Demon Skull for nothing!" he shouted as he parried Wilhelm's next slash with his gauntlets and sent a quick jab that Wilhelm narrowly managed to avoid as he spun around cut Bradley's glasses off of his face, leaving a bloody cut crossing it, "Teleport Magic: Jump," the man said coldly as he warped behind Wilhelm and sent him flying back towards the chamber with a hard punch.

"Tch, dammit," Wilhelm cursed, "He can teleport too, that makes this even harder than it already was. Guess all I can do is stall for time."

"Warp Array!" he heard Bradley call out from the hall as several copies of the man began to appear and disappear throughout the chamber.

"If I can't figure out which one you really are then I'll just have to hit them all! Dark Ball Barrage!" Wilhelm yelled as an orb of darkness magic appeared above him before shooting off several, smaller orbs that exploded upon contact with the walls, leaving the room smoking and ruined except for a small area around Wilhelm.

"Gah!" he heard Bradley gasp as the smoke cleared, revealing the man leaning up against the ruined wall, holding his blood-soaked left hand up to where his right arm used to be, "How did this happen?" the man asked, "How did I get beat by a Darkness Mage of all people?" he gasped as Wilhelm walked towards him, "Fine... you when this round, Wilhelm," he muttered as he teleported away.

**. : + : .**

Ladon walked through the dark halls, the only source of light was a strange red glow coming from further within the guild, from the guild master's chamber he assumed. Whatever was going on in that chamber was giving him a bad feeling, but he couldn't let that stop him from advancing.

"All or nothing I suppose," Ladon sighed as he opened the large, double doors and entered an extravagant chamber that had a large, red lachrima illuminating the chamber and a throne made of skulls that a dark skinned man was sitting on, "You're the guild master I assume?"

The man looked down on Ladon, trying to determine if he was worth his time, "You seem familiar," the man finally said after staring Ladon down for a few minutes. The man stood at about 6'4" with a muscular build and red eyes. He had shaggy white hair that was red at the tips and his guild mark, a skull with two bull horn-like shapes crossing it, was in gold on his forehead. The man wore a black coat with red clouds decorating it over a white undershirt, black slacks, and brown sandals. He also had a pair of silver demon skull earrings.

"I can assure you, we've never met before," Ladon answered coldly as he let his sleeping bag slide off his shoulders, "But you might've met someone I knew."

"I see... I am Salem Alphonse, Guild Master of Demon Skull. And you are very foolish to have come and challenged me alone." he stated in a stoic manner as he stood from his throne and took a small red crystal from his mouth, "Now perish, Philosopher's Stone: Salamander!" he called out as a stream of explosions rushed towards Ladon.

"Dammit," Ladon cursed as he ran to the side to avoid the explosions, only to watch his sleeping bag get incinerated, "If you wanted to get on my bad side, there's no better way to do it. Stealth Fang!" he called out as he ran his hand against the wall as he continued to run from the continuous explosions, the serpents he released running through the wall and ground to approach the throne, "Now!" he yelled as his black eyes glowed red, causing the magic serpents to erupt from the ground around Alphonse and wrap around him, holding him in place and stopping the explosions, "Devour!" he shouted as he released a large serpent made of magic that rushed towards the Dark Mage and enveloped him before detonating, releasing a destructive explosion.

"You are... talented," Ladon heard Alphonse state from the smoke as it cleared, showing that he was covered in scrapes and his coat was in tatters as he took it off, "It looks like I'll have to take you a bit more seriously," he announced as he leapt from his ruined throne towards Ladon and smashed him into the wall with his elbow, causing him to cough up blood from the force of the blow, "Undine!" the man called out as he began to manipulate the water in the air.

"Bed of Coils!" Ladon yelled as several spikes of ice impaled themselves into the several snakes that came and surrounded Ladon, "Did you say 'Undine'?" he asked from beneath the serpents, "You've no idea what an Undine can do, do you?"

"An Undine is a water elemental and is often used to manipulate the element of water during the process of alchemy," Salem answered.

"No... I think I'll need to show you what an Undine can really do! Serpent King!" Ladon shouted as every snake that he had created to protect him fused into one, large snake, a Ladon, with Reginald comfortably reclined along it's back, "You've insulted a member of the mage's guild, Undine's Cove. I hope you're ready to find out what happens to people that make me angry. Devour!" he yelled as the Serpent King rushed towards Alphonse before clamping down on him and releasing a massive explosion of darkness magic, sending the Dark Mage flying across the ruined room, covered in terrible burns.

Ladon stared at the unconscious guild master from across the room until a one armed man appeared, "Master Alphonse!?" he gasped when he saw his defeated guild master, "So they've gotten to you as well? Jump!" he shouted as he grabbed the man and teleported away.

"I guess there wasn't anything I could do about that," Ladon sighed as he walked over to the ruined skull throne and reclined in it, letting sleep take him over until Lyon arrived.

"Where's the guild master?" he shouted as he ran into the room, seeing Ladon asleep in the ruined throne.

Ladon opened one of his eyes, "One of his mages showed and ran away with him using Teleportation Magic," he explained before letting out a long yawn, "So I guess everything's settled for now," he mumbled before going back to sleep in the throne.

**. : + : .**

"I guess you all want to know why I called you all here?" Salina asked her five S-Class mages, Jezabelle, Alistar, Horace, Arashi, and Kiyeda.

"Yes, it's not very common for you to call a meeting with us," Horace replied while Kiyeda nodded next to him.

"Did something happen?" Alistar asked.

"In a manner of speaking," Salina responded, "There's a man I want you all to look into when you're out on missions, he goes by Euclid and he's an information broker that's been causing problems all across Fiore, so I'm worried that he may be trouble for us in the future."

"Is there anything else that we know about him?" Jezabelle asked while trying to remember if she'd heard anything.

"No, that's all the knowledge that we have of him," Salina admitted, "But I don't think it's wise to ignore him, so I want you to look for information on him, as well as for the man behind Rayner's curse."

"Well you can leave it to us!" Kiyeda announced proudly.

"I might know some people who would know something, so I'll see if I can get a hold of them," Arashi stated.

"Good, I'm counting on you five," Salina said proudly as her S-Class mages left her office.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there it is! Chapter 13! My longest chapter to date I think.

I hope you all enjoyed it and please remember to leave a review!

Your host,

dreadburner94.


	16. Salina and Lamia Scale

**A/N: **And here we are yet again, to wrap up the last set of missions and to setup the next batch of them with Chapter 14!

By the way (I feel kinda bad for not mention this until now), but if anyone has ideas for a story arc or has a major villain that relates to your character, feel free to send them in as I've been helped a lot by **MyDearWatson** (I'm not quite sure what I would do without them), **WaterDragonMaverick** (I've been helped a lot by a constant stream of villains that I can do whatever the heck I want with), **WrittenWhim** (for helping me to plan out things for Aspen and her related villains, as well as the overall idea for the next story arc and a story arc that'll happen in the distant future), **ViennaxSky** (for providing the idea of what'll be the first major story arc), as well as everyone else who has provided a villain thus far. So yeah, if anyone has an idea for a mission, a villain, or any sort of idea I encourage you to send it in.

I'd like to thank Stormhawk99, PrinceOfTheMatrix88, SaiyaStyles, WaterDragonMaverick, WrittenWhim, Joshua1277, MyDearWatson, lexlovesya, Hikari903278 (formerly known as Hikari), Frozenblast13, LightandDarkHeart, ViennaxSky, and potentialauthor18 for their many awesome reviews last chapter! Aw yeah, this stories about to hit the 200 review mark!

**Stormhawk99- **Yeah, I thought about adding in a FMA reference last chapter, but it's been about a year since I watched the anime and I've been meaning to watch Brotherhood, but the ending of FMA just left a bad taste in my mouth. But at least Salem got away so you may get that reference in the future.

**PrinceOfTheMatrix88- **I'm glad to hear that you liked the chapter so much and you've no idea how happy it makes to hear how good the fight scenes turned out. But anyways, Aurora's magic is pretty interesting and so is Euclid's, but I have to say that there's a bit more of a story behind Aurora's than there is Euclid's. Also, we'll be seeing some S-Class mages go off on missions soon.

**SaiyaStyles- **Well I'm happy that you liked that little outburst of Rhia's, it's pretty hard to pin down exactly what thing Proclus is since he's been so many different creatures. But anyways, don't worry about the little typo, I know that I've missed a few as well.

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Yep, but I imagine that some magics are easier to freeze/burn than others, with Rune Magic probably being one of the easiest to affect. Yeah I was going to say that Rhia's not a cat, nor is she a male (as Proclus said that Euclid's cat was a male)... but you caught the mistake so anyways, Rhia and Proclus don't get along well at all and she probably hasn't even met Schrodinger. And Zander does kinda fit the "Gildarts" role for this story, despite being a member of a different guild. It only struck me that the name of Aurora's spell came from Soul Eater after I wrote the chapter, so it was probably just the spell that gives that feeling of Soul Eater. But the S-Class mages are just looking for information on Euclid at this point, kinda hard to fight someone when you have no idea where they are and there was a hint to how Zander got his information in the last chapter, but you know exactly how limited the information was. Anyways, yes there's a reason behind Reginald's style of Darkness Magic and you will learn it in his eventual Historical Omake. As for what'll happen after Team Hughes returns, you'll just have to wait and see.

**WrittenWhim- **Yeah, Mindy was more of a non-combatant kind of person since she was counting on her magic being able to contain Aspen, but as you said in her profile, if the established rules prevent her from doing her job, then screw the rules. Yeah, Yune might be able to get used to Sherry now that she knows that she's engaged to Ren, but she is a really adorable character. Chances are really, that Salem probably would've been able to get up after that attack, but the odds would've been stacked against him (and I want to use him and the other two members of Demon Skull that I was unable to introduce later), so he managed to escape with the help of Bradley. Fortunately, the biggest danger has passed for Team Hughes and they have a way to recover, but yeah, they're still in a pickle.

**Joshua1277- **Yeah, they'll be able to bounce back thanks to Euclid ironically. But yeah, I've said this a few times now, but Euclid is here for the long haul so he's definitely a major problem.

**MyDearWatson- **Yeah, that spell's definitely a work in progress kinda thing for Aspen, so it tires her out quickly. And yeah, Aspen puts the job ahead of people's feelings, if someone else had done the job things might have turned out differently for Mindy. I'm happy to hear that you like Euclid so much, I have to admit that he's become one of my favorite characters that I've made, even though his alignment is Chaotic Neutral. And I'm glad that you liked the fights for Team Ladon so much as well, and I won't lie, I had hoped that Salem would have a manicure and fingernail polish like the Akatsuki, but alas he does not.

**lexlovesya- **Haha! Yeah the "lover's quarrel" from a few chapters back, well we'll get to see the full story behind all that eventually. And I'm glad that you like Yune, Aspen, Hughes, and Euclid (despite his diabolical ways). But it's great to hear that I've written Ziv and Zain down accurately! Hearing that I've done a good job writing all of your characters is some of the best news that I can hear. And I'm glad to hear that you liked Wilhelm's method of waking up Ladon as well! "Screw the rules" is a pretty amazing line, I have to admit, but yeah, Euclid, like Salina, is just one of those people that all you can do is try against, so Team Hughes got a bit of a beat-down but they'll get back up for sure. Well, sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do and since Ladon's sleeping bag was incinerated the throne looked quite appealing. And like I said earlier, it's kinda hard to fight someone when you don't know where they are, so the S-Class mages have added information regarding the Broker to their search.

**Hikari903278- **I'm glad that you like the chapter and I'll just say that I have plans for Euclid. And we are actually at the middle of this arc, so two more parts to it (or six more missions)! This next one and the one after. And nope, no historical omake this time! Although if there was one, it would probably have been Ladon's and I did actually consider it. Well I'm glad that you liked Team Hughes' fight scene so much, and if you're wondering what's up with Aurora, there's a story behind that but I'll save it for another time. If I could produce an episode of an Undine's Cove anime every week for you guys my life would be awesome and amazing and I wouldn't need to go to college this fall since I would be making money of off this. Sadly, that is not the case, so yes, a new chapter for you all this week instead of a glorious animated episode.

**Frozenblast13- **Yeah, I thought it was a nice touch to have Wilhelm fight a Light Mage, and there are even plans in the works revolving around that, but I'll save the details for later (much later).

**LightandDarkHeart- **Yeah, I don't really like snakes much myself, so it's perfectly understandable for Ladon to scare you without putting much of an effort into it.

**ViennaxSky- **Ah, school... so glad that I finished high school last school year and took a sabbatical year off before heading off to college. Yeah, Aspen's mission just makes you think, "Who was the real villain in that situation?", and that was honestly what I was trying to do. Yeah, the good guys get beat down sometimes and the villain gets away. But I think it'd be rather boring if that didn't happen every now and then, and the fact that they were fighting Euclid makes it very understandable why they would lose. And well, still gotta find the Info Broker before anything can happen to him, but yeah, a mission with all the S-Class mages on it would be impressive. I'm happy to hear that you liked Team Ladon's fight scenes and I'm really happy to hear that you like how I'm portraying Yune! I know that you said she was quiet and all, but she's the most vocal member on her team and she's just so adorable! Anyways, hold on to your character(s) right now, I'm still waiting on a reply from the person I asked (and I knew that it would take a while to get a reply), but even if they do make the last character I asked for you might be pleasantly surprised.

**potentialauthor18- **Your review just made me sooo happy! And on a day that I was feeling kinda down too, so I got to end my day on a good note! Screw the rules! One of my favorite parts of last chapter and I had just been holding out to use that line too, but yes, Aspen has a very interesting personality. Yeah, like I said earlier, Euclid is like Salina in the fact that all you can really do is try when fighting him at this point, and the fact that Aurora was there just made it even more of an uphill battle for them. But they aren't major villains in the story for nothing I suppose. Your on the right track with alchemist and Euclid knows of Salem (and Salem probably knows of Euclid), but it'll be fully explained later and yes you'll learn more about Rhia later as well. We'll see a bit more of Yune and Sherry in the future, but not much when compared to what we've been seeing. Yeah, Wilhelm's fight was tricky because he was fighting a light mage, but I figured that if you something that's ineffective enough that it will eventually work and get the job done (like for instance, to start a forest fire you can use a flamethrower and it'll start fairly quickly, or you can use a whole bunch of matches and it'll eventually reach the level of the flamethrower (that was a violent example I think)). Well Ladon did say, "I can distract," so yeah, it was probably just modesty on his part there. But yeah, Salem is actually quite a bit of a monster, but Ladon hit him hard and fast and sometimes that's all it takes. And if I love to do anything, it's teasing readers by dangling little bits of characters pasts over their heads or leaving hints just lying around. Yeah, having all 5 of the S-Class mages after you is dangerous, but they have to find him first and that's a challenge all of its own.

**Credits:**

**Rakki Manka- Hikari903278**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 14<strong>

"She's still unconscious huh?" Hughes sighed as their train started to come to a stop in Hargeon, "Guess it can't be helped then... we'll have to take her to Caleb."

"Y-you sure?" Zain asked nervously, "Wh-what'll he do to us?"

"Hopefully nothing but finish healing us, since we're not the ones who knocked out Ziv. But I suppose there's always that chance," Hughes gulped as the train came to a full stop in the station, "Well let's go," he sighed as he and Zain stood up, the younger boy carrying his sister on his back as they exited the train and began walking to the guild.

"Why does the guild have to be so far away from the station?" Zain groaned as they reached the end of the mile-long path to the guildhall.

"I offered to carry her for a while," Hughes sighed.

"Well your a guy, so I can't fully trust your intentions!" Zain retorted quickly as they kept walking towards the infirmary.

"Really? Now you don't trust me?" Hughes sighed again as he opened to door to the infirmary, seeing Ajax, Rayner, and a girl that he didn't know lying on three of the cots, with Caleb staring disapprovingly at Ajax and Rayner, "Uh... pardon the intrusion!" Hughes called out as he and Zain entered the building.

"Put her down on the open cot," Caleb said suddenly with a serious tone, "Now you two sit down over there," he ordered as soon as Zain put down Ziv.

"Yes sir!" the two boys said in unison as they walked across the room and sat down in the chairs lining the far wall next to Rayner's cot.

"I wonder what happened to those two?" Zain pondered as they watched Caleb examine Ziv.

"They probably got into another fight, you know how they are," Hughes responded as he looked at the girl that he didn't know, "Isn't that the girl that tried to fight Salina before we left?"

"I think so, but she's still out cold isn't she?"

"You two! What happened to Ziv?" Caleb asked suddenly, startling the two boys.

"Uh... We got into a fight with a couple of mages on our mission and well... we lost," Hughes admitted, "Zain could probably explain more since he was fighting the same person as Ziv," he said quickly, focusing the healer's attention on the young Moon God Slayer.

"Uh well... the people we were fighting called themselves Euclid and Aurora, and sis and I fought Aurora and she said that Ziv was experiencing 'the torment of Hell' or something like that," Zain explained in a panic.

"I figured that something like that was the case, she seems to be having a nightmare, but if it was just that then she would've woken up by now," Caleb said quietly, as if talking to himself as he walked over to Ziv, "She's either under a curse or simply the after-effects of the magic spell," he continued as he held his hands over Ziv, "Healing Magic: Cleanse," he said quietly as his hands lit up with a white light, "This spell should break any curses on her, as well as dissolve the remaining effects of the spell used on her," he explained as he moved his hands, making sure that her entire body received the effects of his spell, "Now... Healing Magic: Soothe," he said as the glow around his hands changed into a vibrant yellow, "This'll eliminate any negative emotions from the nightmare she is experiencing, so that she'll feel perfectly normal once she wakes up. Hopefully the spell will cause the scene of her dream to change into something happier as well," Caleb explained with a small smile as the glow around his hands disappeared as he walked over to his chair for a rest, before looking over at the two boys with a hard stare, "Now, for losing a battle you three seem to be in remarkably good health."

"Oh! Right... the people that beat us left us this," Hughes said as he pulled out a small vial, "It was a healing potion," he stated as Caleb quickly stood up and took the vial from Hughes so that he could examine it.

"A healing potion?" he muttered as he examined what was left of the liquid inside, "And it clearly worked... so we know that whoever made this potion is a remarkably skilled Alchemist. You two stay here and watch over those four, if either Ajax or Rayner wake up, remind them not to fight in the guild, then they can leave. Ziv and Jewul have to wait for me to come back to examine them," Caleb ordered as he exited the infirmary.

**. : + : .**

"So why is Toby wearing his sock around his neck?" Wilhelm asked as his team and the Lamia Scale mages walked trough the streets of Hargeon.

"It came off during our battle, so he figured that he wouldn't lose it if he wore it around his neck," Yuka explained.

"That's... well..." Wilhelm stammered, unsure of how to respond to the dog-man's logic, "Anyways, is it really alright for most of Demon Skull to have gotten away?"

"We disrupted their operations, destroyed their guildhall, and critically wounded several of their members. Most Dark Guilds don't stay together for long after something like that," Lyon explained as the look on Yune's face looked guilty.

"Hey," Ladon mumbled as he put a hand on Yune's head, "I know you feel guilty about killing that Dark Mage, and it's natural to feel guilty about taking human life, but I'm sure that you saved a lot of people in the future by doing what you did and if you didn't act, you and Sherry would probably be dead."

Yune looked at the normally tired Ladon and gave him a small smile while she held her broken arm, "Thanks," she said sadly as they kept walking, "You know... at first I thought you were kinda scary cause of all the stories about you in the guild, but you know... you're actually a really nice guy aren't you?" she stated suddenly as she smiled happily at the man, causing him to blush and look away.

"No... I'm not nice at all," he said quietly as he split from the group, "I need to buy a new sleeping bag, so you all go on ahead of me," he said with a yawn as he walked into a nearby store.

"Ah... love," Sherry sighed after watching the scene between Ladon and Yune.

"L-l-l-l-love!?" Yune shouted, her face turning beet red as she began mumbling to herself as she stopped walking, "I... ah... it's... um..."

"I think you finally broke her," Wilhelm muttered as he watched Yune start imagining another fantasy as she continued to just stand there and mumble, "Alright come on," he said as he gently pushed her from behind so that she would start walking back to the guild again.

**. : + : .**

Aspen sat in a booth at the 8-Island restaurant, quietly working on a new puzzle as she waited for her food.

"Is something the matter?" Sean asked as he sat down her plate of food, "You have an even more grim expression on your face than usual today," he rudely stated.

"You usually never talk to me, but I wouldn't mind if just kept not talking if your just going to be so rude," Aspen responded coldly as she put away her puzzle.

"Now now..." Yajima said calmly as he walked out of the kitchen with a plate of dessert and sat it on the table, "You two are guild mates so you should at least treat each other kindly, but Sean is right, you seem as if somethings bothering you."

"My last mission just left a bad taste in my mouth is all," Aspen answered as she finished putting away the puzzle.

"You don't think it reached the ideal conclusion then?" Yajima asked, trying to get to the bottom of her unease.

"Yeah, my client was at fault just as much as the kidnappers, but I just took the money and left since it wasn't any of my business," Aspen explained as she started eating.

"Then that means Aspen is gonna grow some big ones! Cause they're filled with sorrow and-" Jean shouted as he appeared behind Aspen before she grabbed him.

"SHUT IT CAT!" she screamed as she incinerated the fur on his head before dropping him on the ground, causing Sean and Yajima to sweatdrop at Jean's perverted antics, "Well it's too late to do anything about it now, so I should just stop letting it bother me," Aspen stated as she calmed down and resumed eating as Sean picked up his Exceed and took him into the kitchen so that he'd be out of the way.

"I suppose that's all you can do," Yajima sighed, "By the way, the dessert's on the house," he added as he began walking back into the kitchen.

**. : + : .**

"Did you say Euclid?" Salina asked, interrupting Caleb.

"Yes. Does the name sound familiar?" Caleb responded.

"We received a warning about a Euclid from Camille's master," Salina explained as she stood up and began walking out of her office, Caleb following her, "So I want a full description from Hughes and Zain," she added as they walked down the stairs and towards the infirmary.

"From what I've gathered, he's apparently quite powerful," Caleb said as they left the main guild building, "Since he and his partner were able to defeat them so easily."

"I suppose that we're lucky that they're all still alive then," Salina sighed as she entered the infirmary, "Are you three alright?" she asked as soon as she entered the building, seeing that Ziv was now awake, along with Rayner and Ajax who had been knocked out by Caleb for fighting again.

"Yeah, we're fine now that Ziv's awake," Hughes answered with a relieved look on his face, "It was awfully close to being a disaster though," he admitted.

"That's good," Salina responded as she let out a deep breath, "Now, what can you tell me about the man that attacked you all?" she asked, her voice suddenly taking on a serious tone.

"Well he had brown hair and he smiled a lot, light tan skin and he was a little taller than Hughes," Ziv explained as she tried to remember what the man had looked like.

"Oh! And he had Gunblade Magic!" Zain exclaimed as he remembered the incident with the second Minotaur.

"Gunblade Magic!?" Rayner exclaimed, "Camille said that only herself, her master, and his oldest son should know that magic!"

"Well I'm pretty sure that his magic was the real deal Rayner, it hurt like hell," Hughes explained, "He also had... Gem Magic I think," he added as he tried to remember the name of Euclid's other magic.

"Hm... Even with this there's still just so much that we don't know," Salina muttered to herself, "I take it that he didn't reveal his motives at all?"

"Well, he said that he was looking for something and that he thought that it might be in those ruins, but it wasn't, whatever it was," Ziv said as Caleb examined her for lasting effects of the spell used on her.

"Well it's good that he didn't find what he was looking for, but we don't know what he's after so we can't do anything about it," Salina sighed, "Well I want you three to take a week off, you've been through a lot and I don't want to hear any complaining," she ordered.

"Of course Salina," Hughes answered as she left the infirmary.

"Oh and Caleb, could you come see me later? I have something that I want you and Horace to do for me," Salina added before she shut the door to the infirmary.

"Well you three are clear to go now," Caleb said as he finished his examination, "And you two as well," he added as he gave Rayner and Ajax a cold stare, "Also, can one of you get Jace, Fareth, and Malon? It will be their responsibility to get Jewul situated here at the guild," he added as he left the infirmary again.

**. : + : .**

"Okay, just sit down now Yune," Wilhelm said cautiously as he sat Yuuna down at the bar in the guildhall, the girl still flustered over Sherry's comment, "Okay, now just take a deep breath and... go to sleep," he said as Yune's head dropped onto the surface of the bar, the girl falling asleep after being awake all night.

"This is a pretty interesting setup for a guild," Lyon said as he looked around, "Lamia Scale's guildhall is in a castle, so this is quite different."

"Well stone walls and floors are boring," Salina said as she walked up to the bar, "Sand and ocean waves are much more exciting, even in winter."

"Salina!" Lyon said with a smile on his face, "How've you been?"

"Well... given the circumstances I'm a bit stressed out right now, but how did the mission go? Where's Reginald?"

"Ladon is buying a new sleeping bag, his old one got incinerated he said," Wilhelm explained after he made sure that Yune was comfortable.

"Most of the Dark Mages got away, but the Dark Guild should disband now," Lyon added, "We disrupted their operations and destroyed their guildhall."

"Well the Magic Council should accept that as mission complete then," Salina sighed before smiling, "Now how have you four been?"

"Sherry, don't you think you should tell her?" Yuka asked as Toby added an 'Ooon' onto the end of Yuka's sentence.

"I've become engaged... to my love, Ren Akatsuki," Sherry sighed dreamily as Salina's face lit up as she hugged the younger mage.

"That's wonderful news Sherry!" she screamed happily as she held Sherry in a tight hug, "When's the wedding?"

"It's more than a year away right now," Sherry sighed, "But you are invited to come and celebrate our love."

"Well I'll try my hardest to make it there," Salina promised as Caleb walked up behind her, "Wilhelm, can you tell Horace to come to my office? He should be in his room as usual."

"Alright," Wilhelm sighed as he left for the male dorm.

"Now then, duty calls so I'm going to have to cut this short," Salina sighed, "But it was wonderful to see you four again and can you tell the old hag to look out for an information broker named Euclid, he recently defeated three of our mages so he's dangerous."

"Of course, we should be going anyways, Lamia Scale is quite far from here so we need to get going. And we'll look forward to seeing if you participate in the Grand Magic Games this year or not," Lyon responded with a smirk.

"Well keep your eyes peeled, you may be surprised," Salina said calmly as she walked up the stairs to the second floor.

**. : + : .**

Rakki Manka flew down the path to the guild, passing by the four Lamia Scale mages as she returned from a small trip to acquire some gear for Light.

Rakki was an Exceed with black fur and bright blue eyes. She wore a small white hoodie, with black pants, and small combat boots. She also wore a pair of small white gloves and she had black scabbard that had white speckles on it strapped to her back that carried her dark iron dagger, but due to her small size it was used as a sword. Rakki, like all Exceeds had Aera Magic, but her wings were black in color instead of the atypical white and her guild mark was on her back in white.

As Rakki entered the cove, she saw Light Hikari as she was exiting the female dorm, "Hikari!" she called out as she flew up next to her Dragon Slayer partner.

"Oh, you're back Rakki! How did your trip go?" Light asked with a small smile on her face as Rakki hovered next to her.

Rakki held out the small box she was carrying, "I managed to get what you asked for," she said as Light took the box and opened it, seeing several shuriken sitting inside of it.

"Thanks Rakki! I was going to head off on a mission today so these'll help," Light smiled as she closed the box, "So let's go get our mission and get it approved by Salina."

**. : + : .**

"So you want us to handle this mission?" Horace asked as he looked at the form, "It doesn't seem too complicated or difficult."

"Yes, it seems strange that you'd want us to take this mission," Caleb added.

"I'm asking you two because I feel like there's more to this mission than the client's saying," Salina explained as she leaned on her desk, "So I want you two to go and make the right call, whatever you determine it to be, even if you have to turn against the client."

"I see... So you think that there might be more to the story than it simply being that the man on this form terrorizing the people that enter the east forest," Horace asked.

"Yes, and this request was sent out to Twilight Ogre and Fairy Tail as well due to their proximity to the forest. So you may have to fight them depending on what you determine the right course of action to be. And if you decide that this man, Styles Kaizu, is innocent, I want you to bring him to me," Salina added as she closed her eyes.

"I see why you've asked us to go on this mission then," Caleb muttered, "This might start a guild war with Twilight Ogre if we're not careful."

"Yes, and I know that you have the perfect skills to keep that from happening, Caleb. And Horace, I'm counting on you to be able to swiftly end any fights with the other guilds if Caleb can't prevent them."

"Very well, I understand your decision perfectly now," Horace said with a large smile, "Come Caleb! We should make our preparations," he suggested as he floated out of the room, Caleb following him as he left.

"I suppose I should go man the bar now," Salina sighed as she stood up and followed the two men out of her office, "Oh? Are they each picking their own mission again?" Salina sighed as she saw Light, Varic, and Haru each looking at the request board, "Well how about you all go on this mission?" Salina asked as she pulled a request form from the board as she stepped in between the three mages, "You've all done nothing but solo missions since you've joined and I'd like you three to each go on a mission together," she said as the three mages stared at her, dumbfounded.

"What do you mean together?" Haru asked, "We each do fine on our own."

"Yeah, it's pretty relaxing to go on a mission a by myself," Varic added as thunder cracked.

"I'm sorry, are you trying to make me mad?" Salina asked innocently as she handed the request form to Light.

"All right fine," Light sighed, "We'll all go on a mission together."

"I knew you would all agree! After all, if your guild master asks you to, you should agree!" Salina continued innocently, causing the three mages and Exceed to sweatdrop, "I'll approve the mission once I get downstairs, so you guys can go ahead and begin your preparations!" she added as the three went downstairs as she turned her attention to the S-Rank Missions Board, where Kiyeda and Kaiyo were standing.

"Will this mission work?" Kaiyo asked as he pointed at a request form.

"No, the cost isn't worth the risk," Kiyeda sighed, "How about this one? It's a bounty hunt so it's right down your alley and I think the reward is good for the mission."

"That'll work! And it's nice and simple too," Kaiyo said happily as he pulled the request form from the board.

"You two going on a mission?" Salina asked as she looked at the request form Kaiyo was holding, "Oh that mission... I believe that the client said the bounty was hiding out in the Clover Canyon somewhere, perhaps in the Web Valley," she said as she remembered the details given to her.

"So it'll be difficult to find the target then," Kiyeda sighed, "That place is a natural labyrinth."

"Hey, if we get lost you can just fly us out of there," Kaiyo reasoned.

"I suppose I could... well then!" Kiyeda said as her wolf-like ears twitched, "We'll be taking this mission Salina!"

"Okay then, I'll approve it in the book once I get downstairs. Good luck you two!"

**. : + : .**

"Um... sir? Sir!?" the shop clerk called out as Ladon lay asleep in one of their sleeping bags, "Um... you need to pay for that before using it," he said as one of Ladon's eyes shot open.

"I need to test it before deciding whether or not I want to buy it," he said coldly.

"Okay sir, please take your time then," the clerk said quickly in a scared tone as Ladon went back to sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there it is, chapter 14. And if you didn't gather it from the chapter we have Caleb and Horace, Kiyeda and Kaiyo, and then the newly assembled Team Light going on a mission next week.

By the way, adding to the note at the top, if there are random OC's that your characters have a past with, feel free to send those in as well.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Please remember to review!

Your host,

dreadburner94.


	17. Omake Special! Celeste Arturia?

**A/N: **Time for a Special Omake to promote a story (with my reasoning behind doing this is just so that I can write this character myself, even for just a little bit... that I can't seem to get the next chapter going right now cause there's too much floating around in my head).

Anyways, I'll be handling the review responses for last chapter when the new chapter is posted, since those have already been written out with the next chapter in mind. But anyways, I'd like to thank WrittenWhim, WaterDragonMaverick, Hikari903278, SaiyaStyles, ViennaxSky, MyDearWatson, FrozenBlast13, LightandDarkHeart, lexlovesya, and Master Of Anime224 for their reviews last chapter! And I will respond to them all at a later date...

Well, anyways, the story being promoted here is a new OC Guild fic called Angel's Breath by Master Of Anime224, so check it out! Also I suggest reading Thunder Stone by MyDearWatson if you haven't already, as well as Phoenix Refuge by lexlovesya, they're both OC Guild fics, but I don't think they're taking characters right now, but MyDearWatson is taking in villains for Thunder Stone.

**Credits:**

**Celeste Arturia- dreadburner94**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy this short little omake!

* * *

><p><strong>Omake Special! Celeste Arturia?<strong>

"Mother... mooootherrr... hello? Wake up~!" Camille heard a faint voice call out.

'Are they talking to me?' Camille wondered as she lay on the ground with her eyes closed, 'No... they can't be... I'm not a mother.'

"All right then! You leave me no choice!" the voice exclaimed as Camille was doused with a bucket of water, waking her up quickly as she she stood up to see who soaked her, "Ah your awake now mother!" the girl said happily as she through a metal bucket behind her.

"Who? Why!? Why would you do that!?" Camille shouted as she looked at the young girl, noticing the blank, white environment they were in, "And where are we?" she asked as she looked around.

The girl stood at about 5'6" with light tan skin, a thin, yet fit, build with a small chest and thin waist. She had blond hair that would fall to about her shoulder blades, but it was tied up in a messy ponytail with a red hairband while her messy bangs framed her face and covered her forehead. The girl had sharp, amber colored eyes that radiated confidence, a slightly pointed nose, and a cocky smirk on her face. She was wearing a revealing black tube top with gold trim on it under a red jacket that was black on the inside with the collar popped up. She was also wearing short, brown jean shorts that were held up with a black leather belt that had a gold buckle and a pair of black ankle boots that had an assortment of gold buckles and black straps on them. She was also wearing a gold pendant shaped like a sword on a rope necklace that hung around her neck and she had a red guild mark on her stomach, to the left of her navel.

"Wow... way to forget about your own daughter..." the girl sighed as Camille looked at her with a clueless expression, "It's me! You know, Celeste! Your loving and caring daughter who so kindly woke you up just now!" she explained as Camille just continued looking at her with a confused expression.

"I don't... have a daughter, and certainly not one as old as you," Camille finally said after staring for a while longer.

"I thought you looked rather young for an old hag," Celeste sighed as she pinched her forehead.

"O-old hag!" Camille shouted, "No daughter of mine would treat me with such disrespect!"

"Heh," Celeste smirked, noticing what Camille called her, "Shows what you know, I can and I do, you've just never been able to stop me," she stated coolly.

"And she certainly wouldn't dress like that!" Camille continued, pointing at her daughter's attire, which revealed quiet a bit of skin.

"My previous statement still stands," Celeste shrugged, "And besides, this outfit is much better than your suit, you cross-dresser."

"Cr-cr-cr-cr-CROSS-DRESSER!" Camille yelled, her face now thoroughly red with a blush, "Y-you..."

"Oh? Did I touch a nerve, mother?" the 16 year-old girl asked with a sly smile that she poorly hid behind her hand while Arturia's Tear appeared in Camille's hands, "Time for a spanking then?" Celeste asked as a long, two-handed sword appeared in her left hand that had a double-edged blade, a gold hilt shaped like wings, a red cloth tied around the handle, and a dark red gem set in the pommel. Also, ancient runes where carved into the flat of the blade that roughly translated to 'Of the skies', "Since you don't remember, this is Tyrhung, you had it forged for me," she explained as she swung the large sword around with only one hand with ease, "Gunblade: Load," she said quietly as the magic interface appeared along the hilt as she wore a large and excited smile on her face.

"Load," Camille repeated as the same interface appeared on her sword, her anger and embarrassment disappearing as she realized that they were going to fight.

"This'll be fun," Celeste said quietly as she leaped towards Camille, swing her large sword down on her with one arm, "Point-Blank Shot!" she yelled as she pulled the magic trigger, causing an explosion of red magic as Camille blocked the attack with her own, wind-based spell, causing the two girls to slide away from each other, both of them now bearing small scratches.

"Your style is sloppy and reckless," Camille observed as she raised her sword.

"You didn't call me a berserker when you trained me for nothing you know," Celeste smirked as she held Tyrhung off to her side, "Salvo!" she yelled as she swung her sword as it released seven magic projectiles towards Camille.

'I suppose she really is my daughter,' Camille thought as she dodged and weaved between the shots as they flew past, only to see Celeste charging towards her again, swinging the sword in an upward motion, "Tch," Camille grunted as she braced herself and blocked the powerful strike with her sword, sending her flying into the air due to the sheer power behind the attack, "Artillery Shot!" Camille yelled as she did a flip through the air, sending a powerful, wind-based, magic projectile towards Celeste, the projectile exploding upon making contact as Camille landed on the ground gracefully.

"That hurt," Celeste grunted as the smoke cleared, showing an assortment of bleeding cuts across her body, "But that'll just make me angry," she smirked as she held Tyrhung with both hands the blade pointing towards Camille as she charged again, "Scatter Shot!" she yelled as her sword lit up with a brilliant red light, before shooting seven small magic projectiles into Camille's chest, sending her flying across the empty realm once more.

"I suppose I can't afford to hold back," Camille mumbled as she requiped into her burgundy jacket and out of her ruined suit, "Overload!" she yelled as Arturia's Tear lit up with a brilliant golden light, the magic interface beginning to spark due to having too much magic sent into it at once.

"We're going all-out then?" Celeste smirked as she activated Overload, Tyrhung glowing with a blood red light as she charged again.

'The War Goddess's Will... Master named these spells after his first teacher... They are the most powerful spells at our disposal,' Camille remembered calmly as Celeste continued to charge, the blood red glow of her sword getting closer.

"The War Goddess's Pillar!" Celeste yelled as the glow around her sword condensed into an elongated blade as she began to attempt to slash through Camille, who was narrowly able to dodge the many strikes as Celeste lifted her sword above her head and slashed downwards, causing a large pillar of blood red magic energy to erupt in a violent explosion, sending Camille flying back even though she managed to dodge the strike, "Hah... hah..." Celeste panted as she looked over at her mother, who was still now standing with her glowing sword over her head as a great tempest of wind seemed to stream out from her sword with a deafening roar, causing the name of Camille's spell to be lost on the wind as the golden light shot forth from the sword as it was swung, blinding Celeste with it's light.

"Eh?" Celeste gawked as she opened her eyes, noticing that the attack never landed and that Camille was sitting next to her, "Did... did you miss on purpose?" she asked as Camille simply answered with a nod, "But why? You could've-!" she started to say as Camille smacked her on the side of the head.

"A close shave was enough to take victory," Camille said calmly as she sighed, "And you shouldn't give your mother so much trouble," she chastised.

"Ah, so you've always been a stick-in-the-mud," Celeste snickered.

"What did I say?" Camille yelled as she hit Celeste on the side of the head again.

"Yes mooomm," the younger girl groaned as she rubbed the sore spot on her head.

"Honestly... How did I raise a child like you?"

"You hit me a lot during training... and yelled at me when I caused trouble... and then there was the time I flooded the dojo," Celeste snickered as she remembered the event.

"You flooded the dojo!?" Camille screamed as she grabbed her daughter by the shoulders.

"Yeah! Your reaction was something like that," Celeste laughed while Camille started shaking her.

"Why would you do that!?"

"For kicks and giggles of course."

"That's it!?"

"Haha! Yep!"

"You must not take after me at all!" Camille sighed after she calmed down some.

"Yeah, you say that I take after dad more than you a lot," Celeste responded.

"Wait... Dad? Who is your father?" Camille asked.

"Now that would be telling!" Celeste snickered, "You'll just have to wait and find out if you don't know already!"

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Camille moaned as her daughter kept snickering next to her.

"Well I think you should be headed back now," Celeste said suddenly as she stood up, Camille standing up as well a short while after.

"What do you mean 'headed back'?" Camille asked.

"Back to your guild of course," she answered like it was obvious.

"How?"

"Like this," Celeste said as she pointed to a hole in the white ground behind Camille before she pushed her into the hole, "Bye!" she waved as Camille screamed something incoherent as she fell through the hole.

* * *

><p><strong>Celeste's Note (CN): **"Now that that's taken care of," Celeste snickered with an evil grin, "Time to break the fourth wall! The author got distracted with stuff, like me, cause I'm more important clearly, and doesn't think that he'll be able to get a chapter out this week. Although if he does, and yes he's a he, it'll probably be on Friday, but he makes no promises! Cause he's an idiot who gets distracted easily, but he'll try his hardest to focus on the next chapter. But to keep you all somewhat happy, he decided to write this short omake starring me to announce the start of the OC Guild fic by Master Of Anime224 called Angel's Breath! Which I'll be in as one of the guild's mages. Oh, and don't worry about mother... she'll be fine and she won't remember any of this."

**A/N: **And the fourth wall is effectively broken... shattered, fragmented, and destroyed beyond repair. Oh wait, it's fixed now. But yes! Check out Angel's Breath, it's brand new so you have the chance to get an OC in until the submissions become closed. And yes, Celeste is indeed Camille's eventual daughter, despite the fact that Celeste pretty much only got her looks from Camille, and she uses the name Arturia for reasons.

Anyways, I'm still taking in ideas, villains, and random OC's that have pasts with your OC's. Also if anyone ever has any questions about the story, go ahead and send them in a Private Message as well and I'll see if I can answer it or not since there'll obviously be questions that I can't answer.

I hope you enjoyed the omake!

Leave a review if you want!

Your distracted host,

dreadburner94.


	18. Gunther and Rowena

**A/N: **Eh? What's this? My inspiration has returned before I finished the intro chapters of Kobold Mine!?Alright and here we go with Chapter 15!

Oh wow... what's it been guys? A little bit over a month? A month and a half? Well don't worry, I in no ways had any plans of abandoning this thing, there was far too much planned out for me to do so anyways and it would've just left a bad taste in my mouth if I did. But now my muse as returned for Undine's Cove so now I'll begin updating both stories every week or so, whether I update both in a single week is up to how I feel though.

But yeah, for anyone that doesn't know, the reason I haven't updated for a while is simply because I lost my muse for this and in an effort to get it back I got all of the ideas for this story written down and then the many different OCs that I wanted to use, but couldn't use for this story wound up bringing my second OC Guild Story, Kobold Mine, into existence. So I've been working on that and the plan was to start on this again after I finished the introductions. But! My muse has returned to Undine's Cove and hopefully it's back to stay for a good while.

Things have also been a tiny bit hectic with my personal life as well, but the most that came out of that was a bit of a case of insomnia, so I couldn't sleep for like a week, but that's all taken care of for the most part.

Now onto some good news since I'm in a rather good mood. I've decided to temporarily re-open the OC Submissions for Undine's Cove, but I will only accept 5 or so new OCs, the most I'll accept being 7. But I will not be accepting Slayers of any kind and I would prefer it if those of you who have already submitted more than one OC let others submit their OCs. But anyways, you'll find an **updated** OC Form at the end of the prologue, so please use that and send the OC in through a PM.

Now then, I'd like to thank WrittenWhim, WaterDragonMaverick, Hikari903278, SaiyaStyles, ViennaxSky, MyDearWatson, FrozenBlast13, LightandDarkHeart, lexlovesya, Master Of Anime224, and potentialauthor18 for their reviews last chapter! As well as for the additional reviews for the omake from Master of Anime224, WaterDragonMaverick, MyDearWatson, Hikari903278, FrozenBlast13, LightandDarkHeart, lexlovesya, and PlaguedAmbition!

**WrittenWhim- **Ah Yune will be fine once she wakes up, she might still be a bit flustered but she'll be able to function again at least. Jean? No he will never learn... ever. And yep, Salina's going to get her way and they're going on a mission together whether they want to or not. Yeah, when Ladon's really touchy when it comes to sleep, but I don't think any girl really likes it when someone talks about their... you know what... I'm not going to finish that sentence, girls scare me too much to finish it.

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Caleb has a pretty wide variety of skills, of course there are some curses that he can't lift, like Rayner's Wasting Curse, simply because they're too strong for him to completely lift, he can however slow it down a bit. There's nothing a good nap can't solve! And Ladon was rather attached to his old sleeping bag. And I have to say that I'm looking forward to writing all three of this round's missions, some details still need ironed out, but I'll figure things out as I go. I'm happy that you liked Celeste so much! And if you want to see more of her, then check out Angel's Breath!

**Hikari903278- **Well Ren and Sherry are actually an official pairing, with them getting engaged at some point during the 7 year time skip and as far as we know, they are still not married. Yeah, Light, Haru, and Varic all seemed like they have the potential to get along, despite each of them being all "lone wolf" and all that, but myself and Salina say that they're going together (plus I needed them to work together so that there will only be one more part to this arc after this part). Yep, Jean certainly knows how to break the ice and lighten the mood, so he's pretty fun to write (that and I can be as... know what? Not finishing that sentence either...). And alas... all good things must come to an end, but I'm glad that I was able to finish the last chapter on a funny note. Well as I said in a message, and I know I sounded rather firm with you, but if you want to use Undine's Cove, you have to get permission from everybody so that you can use their character. They need to know that you plan on doing that and they have to give you permission to use their characters. Otherwise your stuck with just my characters, and even then, I need to know what you plan on doing with my guild so I can make sure that it doesn't conflict with what'll be happening here, cause if it conflicts, then I won't necessarily be very happy cause I have plans! But anyways, just make sure you ask for permission and that you go over the stuff involving Undine's Cove with me, since Undine's Cove is property of myself and since you plan on, I assume, writing Light's history within the guild, which would be a part of the history of the guild, and well... you get the picture, right? And once again, please keep in mind that I'm not mad, it's just that these things have to be done to make sure that credit goes to where credit is due and that you don't use someone's character without permission since I can't give you permission to use any character that doesn't belong to me. As for your Twilight Ogre idea, go ahead and send that when you can and I'll see if I can use it or not, if you still remember it.

**SaiyaStyles- **I'm sure you do know where Caleb and Horace's mission is going, oh paragon of patience. No seriously, you are a paragon of patience. You've been so patient waiting for me to introduce Styles and I really, really appreciate it. And now your patience is being rewarded next chapter! But yes, you directed me to his sister a while back and right now I'm only taking in villain OC's and OC's that will not become a part of Undine's Cove (so like a friend from another guild or some guy who was nice to your character in the past or something), so feel free to send those in whenever you want.

**ViennaxSky- **Making you people smile like idiots is what I'm trying to do, so it's good to hear that I'm having some success. There will still probably be situations where Yune is quiet, but yeah, it was her teammates that made me have to make her a bit talkative, cause it would've been awkward and difficult to write 3 quiet people working together (plus Yune brought quite a bit of comic relief with Sherry). Yeah I enjoy having two characters that are siblings, since I get to write those little brother/sister complex moments at times. As for Euclid, I'm not sure if he'll directly appear in anymore missions, he'll certainly be behind lots of things, but his agents aren't to be underestimated. I think I shall dub this ship name... YuuDon, and it was Sherry being Sherry... or was it? Yep, the X790 GMG's will be a future story arc, you'll all have to wait to see how well they'll do though. Yes... now is the time for Caleb to establish himself as highly feared in places other than Undine's Cove, an apple a day won't keep this doctor away after all...

**MyDearWatson- **Well, Caleb has probably dragged each member of Undine's Cove to that infirmary at least once, after he rendered them immobile of course. But hey, Caleb's away from the guild now so... Anyways! Yes, Yune just can't handle those thoughts very well and I just had to have Team Lyon drop by the guild real quick. Jean shall never learn... it's too perfect the way it is... and he's a magical cat so he'll be fine. But anyways, I shall dub this ship name... AspEan? SeSpen? ASean? ASEAN CHOP! Oh Classic Loony Tunes... I miss them... and the Hassan Chop... And well you know... Sleeping bags are serious business when your Ladon. I'm happy to hear that you liked Celeste so much! And yes, one of the War Goddess's spells finally got revealed (and for those of you who don't know what those are in detail, they're more or less the advanced Gunblade Magic spells). And yep, Celeste flooded the dojo when she was a kid, she seems to have an affinity for water... but she doesn't have a water sword. Hm... strange.

**FrozenBlast13- **I'm happy that you liked the last chapter, as well as all the characters in the story so far! I hope that you enjoy this chapter as well! And I'm glad that you liked Celeste, so if you want to see more of her, check out Angel's Breath!

**LightandDarkHeart- **Yep, Caleb and Horace's mission should be pretty interesting, as for how well the three loners will do... you'll just have to wait and see. Breaking the fourth wall was a sacrifice that had to be made, but it got better. And yep, Celeste was trained by Camille, so she has her skills, she just disregards her knight-like training for something more similar to Zander's style of fighting, which is more reckless like a warrior.

**lexlovesya- **Yeah, Aurora's magic can be pretty hard on the mind, so without Caleb, it would've taken Ziv a while to fully recover from that. AND SOMEONE FINALLY POINTED OUT THE SOCK! I'm so happy that you pointed out that little reference I made, I've been planning since I started that series of missions. And as I said, I dub this ship name YuuDon! So we have RayMiri, RayMille, YuuDon, and ?ASean? now (and also ZanQuinn, always gotta have that ZanQuinn). Fortunately for Jean, he is a magical cat so the threat of baldness shall never stop him and his perverted ways! And of course Salina is making good use of her authority by forcing those three on a mission together.

**Master Of Anime224- **Please, please, your making me blush with all those compliments. Honestly, half the time I sit and wonder if that's how the character is actually supposed to act, but I seem to be doing a good job of keeping them all in character so far since nobody has yelled at me for butchering their character. But yea, there will be very dark stuff later on in the story, however I felt like it was necessary to start off lighthearted and all that, but I'm surprised that people have thought that the humor that I've written so far to be funny, I never really thought of myself as a funny person if I'm honest. Weird, yes, funny, no, but apparently I have a sense of humor. And yeah, Rayner will have some dark stuff in the future, which will no doubt be about his curse, and I'm glad that you like Salina so much and yes, she definitely knows how to establish herself as the guild master, she's strong, kind, wise, intelligent, and she knows how to abuse her authority every once in a while (which is the most important part of course). The X790 GMG's... so many reasons of why I want to get to that point quickly, but alas... there is another story arc before then. And lastly, I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter and the chapters before that, I was very pleased with how the last chapter came out and now we head off again on some more missions! Because reasons... the only excuse I'll ever need. And I'm glad that you like Celeste so much! I'm looking forward to seeing what you can do with her!

**potentialauthor18- **Yep, if Zain loves anyone, it's his sister, so he's gotta take care of her. And if I remember correctly, that team is very fluid right now, it hasn't exactly solidified as of yet. And yep, Caleb is a man who rules through fear (which Salina is also known to do at times, but in her own way such as the event with the new Team Light). And yes, Yune is just completely adorable and fun to write, sadly, I don't think I got any OC for Kobold Mine that rival her level of adorableness, but it's just something that this story got that Kobold Mine didn't. And I'm glad that you appreciate my eye for detail when it came to Yune's still injured arm, Ladon's lack of a sleeping bag, and Salina being stressed out due to recent events with Team Hughes and Euclid. But yeah, that scene with Ladon was one of the for sure things that I wanted to include that chapter. And yep, Horace and Caleb are bound to have an interesting mission and come on, since when do missions ever go wrong? Oh who am I kidding... something will always go wrong on a Mage's mission.

**PlaguedAmbition- **I'm glad that you like the story so far and I'm certain that I won't be going on any long breaks anytime soon.

**Credits:**

**Gunther and Rowena- dreadburner94**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 15<strong>

Rhiannon Yates rode throw the streets of Lupinus Town on her motorcycle, which was painted black with a stripe of silver on either side of it. Rhia came to quick stop in front of an old inn made of stone. Rhia turned off the engine and stepped off the motorcycle while pulling her goggles down around her neck.

"Best get this over with," she sighed as she entered the building, walking up to the counter as a silent message seemed to be sent between her and the man behind it as their eyes met, "Your best room please."

"One night or two?" the man asked as he opened up a log book.

"Just for the night, I'm headed to Crocus in the morning," Rhia answered calmly, hoping that the code hadn't been changed since the last time she was here.

"You'll be staying in room 309 then," the man said as he handed her a key, watching Rhia as she walked off towards the stairs.

Rhia walked silently as she traveled up the stairs, eventually coming to the fourth floor of the inn, 'Why are the rooms starting with the number three on the fourth floor?' Rhia thought to herself, 'Humans make no sense to me, even after all this time,' she continued as she eventually came to room 309 and opened the door, which was already unlocked much to her surprise, "Euclid!?" she gasped when she saw the Info Broker reclining in one of the chairs in the room.

"I take it things ended up the way I thought they would," Euclid said with a smirk on his face as Aurora appeared behind Rhia and pushed her into the room, shutting the door behind them and locking it.

"Salem Alphonse and three of his guild members escaped," Rhia responded while eying the broker down, "The mages also destroyed the guildhall."

"So one of them died, eh?" Euclid smirked, "Well there's one more thing before you leave. Aurora," he said with a cold tone as Aurora suddenly grabbed Rhia's arm and slammed her face into the wall, "I heard from a little birdie that you gave someone information on me. I believe his name was Zander Ealdwine?" he said in a nonchalant tone as he stood up from his chair and walked over to Rhia, seeing her bearing her sharp, fang-like teeth at him, "Oh! Ahaha! So scary!" he laughed as he taunted her, "But don't worry," he said as he patted her on the head like a small child before poking one of her long and pointy ears just to watch it twitch, "It's perfectly fine since he sent the information to Undine's Cove, and besides... you're simply too valuable and interesting to kill for giving away information about me... although the info wasn't anything important since it was just my name and not even my real one to boot!" he finished with a laugh.

"So I took that risk for nothing then..." Rhia sighed, her ears drooping slightly as Aurora let go of her.

"And you even gave the information to a man that I already have under surveillance," Euclid chuckled as he walked back over to the chair, opening a wine bottle that was sitting on a small table next to it as he poured himself a glass, "Well... since you're so interested in Zander, why don't you go ahead and offer your services to him? I heard he's looking for a few people," Euclid said with a knowing smirk on his face.

**. : + : .**

Kiyeda and Kaiyo stepped off of the train soon after it arrived in Clover Town, the two of them stretching out their arms and legs after sitting still for a few hours.

"It feels so good to finally be off that train!" Kaiyo exclaimed as he finished stretching, watching Kiyeda as she followed suit, her tail standing on end as she stretched.

"We should probably head over to Town Hall and let them know that we've accepted the mission," the Angel Mage said as she finished stretching, taking off as soon as she finished with her partner following her to the center of Clover Town.

"What do you mean we can't take the mission!?" they heard a man shout from the mayor's office, "We've been looking for this man for over five years and some obese mayor isn't going to stop us now!"

"I'm sorry sir... but the mission has been issued to legal guilds as an S-Rank Mission. Letting someone who's strength is undocumented would put their lives at risk," another man, assumingly the mayor, responded, a bit of fear in his voice.

"And I keep telling you that that's a bunch of bullshit!" the first man screamed, the anger completely obvious in his voice, "We know this man better than any legal mage could, S-Class or otherwise. We've been looking for him for over five years! We know his strengths inside and out and now that we've found him you think that you have the right to stop us!?"

"Do you think we should interrupt?" Kaiyo whispered.

"It'd probably stop whatever argument is going on inside the office," Kiyeda whispered back, "The mayor might even be thankful."

"Well it's settled then," Kaiyo said as he knocked on the door, stopping the argument as the mayor called them into his office. As soon as the two mages stepped inside, they noticed the tall man that had been arguing with the mayor. He stood at about 6'4" with a muscular frame and dark tan skin. His short raven black hair was slicked back in small waves of spikes and his intense eyes were a startling, bright aqua. His facial features were sharp, with his nose being noticeably pointy and he had a scar diagonally crossing his face, ending above his right eye. The man wore a type of matte black body armor over a dark gray, sleeveless shirt with a pair of black jeans, which were tucked into steel-toed boots. Completing his outfit was a pair of black, fingerless gloves and a brilliant red waistcoat which Kiyeda could feel a holy power emanating from it.

The tall man stared Kaiyo and Kiyeda down for a short a moment before letting out an unsatisfied 'humph', "Rowena, we're leaving," the man said suddenly to the woman who was in the room with him as he walked out of the office.

The woman in the room with him stood at about 5'7" with the same dark tan skin and aqua colored eyes as the man. She had an amble bust and her eyes carried a sense of kindness in them, but also great sadness. Her long and wavy black hair fell down to the back of her knees in long waves and she had a red hairband with gold trimmings in her hair, the hair band having white ribbons tied onto either side of it. The woman wore a long, red coat that was decorated with white and gold trimmings and she wore a white skirt that had red lining on it. She also wore black stockings with white and red sneakers and completing her outfit was a large, white ribbon which had a gold brooch set into the middle of it which bore a large red gem.

"Ah, Gunther! Wait up!" the woman called out as she followed the man out of the office, the mayor letting out a sigh of relief as they left.

"Thank you for you timely arrival. That man has been harassing me day and night to let him take this mission," the mayor explained.

"If he's been so insistent on it, why didn't you give in?" Kaiyo bluntly asked.

"Because of the rules. As independent mages, they're not allowed to legally take S-Rank missions. If they had shown up before I sent out the request, I probably would've allowed them to take the task. But we should probably get down to business, what can I do for you?"

"I am Kiyeda Hasanari, S-Class Mage of Undine's Cove," Kiyeda said in introduction, "This is my partner, Kaiyo Atasume, and we're here to accept the bounty hunt request."

"Ah, I see. You'll be able to take care of both of my problems then since by taking the request that man should have no reason to bother me," the mayor said with a relieved sigh, "All right then, you'll be hunting a man known by the name of Kieron Shamus and he has been spotted in Clover Canyon, near the Web Valley. He's a very cautious man who has murdered and kidnapped many mages in past few years, many of them being rather powerful from what I've heard."

"What happened to the mages he kidnapped?" Kaiyo asked with a bit of nervousness in his voice.

"They are never to be heard from again," the mayor answered grimly, "No one is certain if he is acting on his own or if he's working for someone however, so you should both act with extreme caution should you encounter him."

"I suppose there's only one more question to ask then, would you prefer him dead? Or alive?" Kiyeda asked with an uncharacteristic seriousness.

"Alive is preferable, but if you feel like you cannot detain him, then do what you must," the large man answered as Kiyeda bowed before turning around.

"We should go and make our preparations then," she said as she walked out of the office, Kaiyo following her from behind.

"Shouldn't we have asked about his abilities?" the Raven Mage asked.

"Someone else will tell us," Kiyeda answered as they left the Town Hall, seeing the man and woman from before, waiting for them.

"Keh," the man named Gunther scoffed, "So you're the S-Class Mages that accepted the mission then? You don't look like much to me, but I'll take what I can get."

"I'm guessing that you're not going to just let us go handle the mission on our own then," Kaiyo said with a sense of caution in his voice.

The man cockily smirked before responding, "Heh, we could all benefit from this arrangement. We know Kieron's abilities from experience and we can tell that he'd beat you two," Gunther said in a cynical tone as he continued, "But by taking us with you, your chances of success are certain and we can ask the man the questions we want in return. We'll also let you keep all of the reward for his capture. A pretty good deal for you two, right?"

Kiyeda stood there and thought, "It's a deal," she answered, having no real reason of denying the man and woman, "But you'll have to answer any question we have to ask," she added.

"That's fair enough," the man responded with a pleased smirk on his face, "My name is Gunther Hildebrand and this is my younger sister, Rowena. We may be pleased to meet you, but time will tell," he said as he started walking towards the edge of town.

"Gunther and I will wait for you at the edge of town," Rowena said quietly, "Meet us there when you two are ready."

**. : + : .**

Hikari, Varic, and Haru stepped off of the train, having arrived at their distant destination, the mining town of Luculia.

"So where do we go to accept the request?" Haru asked as they all looked up at the city circling the tall mountain from the train station at the bottom.

"The form says to report in to the old keep at the..." Hikari started to say as her voice trailed off.

"What? Where is it?" Varic asked, confused by his new teammate's silence.

"At the top of the mountain," the Dragon Slayer groaned.

"Sorry, but I don't think I can fly all three of you up there," Rakki apologized as the three mages began their hike through Luculia Town.

"Who's... brilliant idea was it... to build a city on a mountain?" Haru grumbled as they reached the front gate of the keep.

"I rather like it up here actually," Varic chirped in, seemingly fine, "It's nice and cold," he added as he opened the gate for his two, tired teammates as they walked towards the front door of the keep.

As the trio entered the castle's grand foyer, they noticed the two, large dragon statues standing next to the large, stone staircase. The room was warmly lit and well decorated with tapestries and rugs, as well as other small statues and plants here and there.

Varic let out an impressed whistle as he looked around the room with Haru, Hikari and Rakki examining the dragon statues in the meantime, "Whoever lives here must be rich," Varic said with a bit of awe in his voice, "How old do you think some of these statues are?"

"Three-Hundred-Seventy-Seven years," a girl's voice answered from above, "At least, that's how old the dragon statues are," the voice continued as it's owner descended the stairs.

The graceful voice belonged to an equally graceful girl, who stood at an average height of 5'6" with fair skin and brown hair that was tied into an elegant, braided bun. She had gold, colored eyes and she wore an elegant, red gown.

"My name is Edina Dragomir. I take it that you three are here for the request?" she asked as she reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Yes," Varic answered, "The form said something about golems in the mines?"

"Yes, that's right," Lady Edina responded, "The miners found them lying dormant in one of the mine shafts and accidentally woke them up. The golems immediately went into a rampage, killing several miners and injuring so many more," the girl explained sadly, "The stress of it all has even caused my mother to collapse."

"Your mother?" Light repeated.

"Yes. My mother is the ruler of Luculia Town. She took over after my grandfather was murdered thirteen years ago."

"Oh... I uh... I'm sorry for bringing it up then," Light apologized, looking slightly downcast.

"It's alright, I was just a small girl back then and I don't remember grandfather all that well," Edina kindly responded, "But I'm certain that you didn't come for idle chat. Let me show you the way to the mine."

**. : + : .**

"So then," Caleb Pherl began after hearing his client's explanation, "You claim that this man, Styles Kaizu, has been attacking and murdering your hunters and lumberjacks for no reason then?" he asked inquisitively while Horace observed the man with his usual smile on his face.

"That's right! That man is a blight and a menace! Relentlessly attacking anyone who dares to enter the East Forest!" the large, gruff man shouted, full of anger, "So we hired your guild, Twilight Ogre, several hunters, and even Fairy Tail to take this man out for the sake of peace!"

"I see," Caleb muttered quietly as he pushed up his glasses, with them catching a glare as he gave the man a menacing look, "And you're certain that that's all of the details?" he asked in a dark tone, catching the man off guard as he gulped and nodded, but refused to say anymore, "I see... We will be off then," Caleb announced as he turned towards the East Forest, Horace floating behind him, "So... What was your impression from that?"

"Heh... that man's hiding something. I felt that he was the whole conversation, but he revealed everything the moment that you intimidated him," Horace answered with his deranged smile plastering his face.

"So you think so as well?"

"Yes, we should incapacitate each mage or hunter we come across until we know the whole story," Horace responded.

"But convincing them to leave would be preferable," Caleb added as the two men continued into the forest.

Caleb and Horace continued walking for a ways, speaking only with hand gestures as they advanced through the forest, careful not to let anyone know of their presence.

'Ohohoho, it looks like we have a few mages up ahead,' Horace thought to himself as he spotted to men fumbling through the foliage, 'It looks like Caleb has noticed as well,' he added as he looked down at Caleb, the healer staring down the two men.

The two men were... odd to say the least. The first man was lean and thin, having orange hair pulled back into a ponytail and the second man was a large and obese man who had black hair that reminded Horace of a duck or swan with the way it stood up.

"Jet... Can we go back to the guild now? I'm hungry," the larger man whined as he trudged through the underbrush.

"No! We have to get the money for the guild!" the other man, presumably Jet, argued.

"What's the point though? Twilight Ogre's just gonna take it away and say that we stole it from them," the large man continued, stopping in his tracks as he bent over from exhaustion.

"Droy! C'mon! This isn't the time for a break! You had one five minutes ago," Jet yelled, clearly tired of his partner.

"This is just sad," Caleb mumbled as he watched the two Fairy Tail mages.

"I don't think we'll get any problems from them," Horace muttered as he watched the two men.

"Agreed, we should just leave them be," Caleb said as he stood from his crouched position and kept walking further into the woods.

**. : + : .**

Salina sat in her chair, bored out of her mind if she was honest. She had just watched three different groups depart on missions and Camille refused to let her leave her office until all of her paperwork was finished. Why she was listening to the younger girl was a mystery to Salina, but she was.

"Why is she so serious?" Salina moaned as she began spinning her chair around, ignoring the stack of papers on her desk, "It really is a surprise that she gets along with as many people as she does with her personality," the Guild Master continued as she spun around in her chair, "She's all work and no play! Doesn't she know that she'll get wrinkles when she's older?" Salina asked herself as she continued to spin round and round, "The only reason I don't have wrinkles is my magic," she admitted as she continued her spinning, "It's amazing what the optimal climate can do for your skin really," Salina boasted as she still remained in her spiral motion, "But back to Camille... she really needs to learn to let things go sometimes. Being serious is good and all, but to be serious all of the time is just suffocating sometimes... like Caleb," she mused as she continued to spin, "The smallest of injuries, the most insignificant of paper cuts. Each and every injury is just as serious as the last with him!" Salina shouted as she stood up, immediately falling over after realizing how dizzy she was, "Sigh... Let it go Salina... Just let it go..." she mumbled as she lay on floor, face down.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So there it is after much delay! Chapter 15!

Remember all, I'm accepting OCs again in I suppose celebration of me starting work on this story again, but the spaces are very limited. Remember that the OC Form is found at the end of the Prologue and to send in the submission to me in a PM.

Anyways, please remember to leave a review!

Your Host,

dreadburner94.


	19. Historical Omake: Salina Velvet Part 1

**A/N: **Well hello once again! Welcome to the start of my insane, self-imposed challenged where I will provide you all with one chapter a day for a week starting today on July 1st! And if any of you know one important date in Fairy Tail, it's July 7th and that's when the challenge will end. So we have 7 days with 7 chapters ending on the 7th. That's right, three 7's for a 777. So then! Dreadburner94 here with the second Historical Omake! This time I'm featuring the one and only Guild Master of Undine's Cove, Salina Velvet in celebration of her birthday in the story! Which happens to be April 8th if you're curious and it is early April/last days of March in the story.

So I guess I'll talk about how I came up with Salina for a little bit, but don't worry, it's a short story at best. The long and short of it was that I needed a guild master for the story and after the name Undine's Cove and the location of just outside of Hargeon were established I came up with Weather Magic. After that it was a simple matter of asking MyDearWatson of whether the Guild Master should be male or female, and Watson recommended that I make them female, so I did. Then I just filled in the profile with history, personality, appearance and whatnot.

So yeah, a little heads up, some scenes in this omake will actually take place a few days ahead of the current chapter since those scenes will take place on April 8th, X790.

But anyways, I'd like to thank WaterDragonMaverick, ManhattanTheory, WrittenWhim, Hikari903278, SaiyaStyles, MyDearWatson, Master of Anime224, and FrozenBlast13 for their reviews last chapter!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Yep, and the story's coming back strong it seems. Looney Tunes was a big part of my childhood, that and Tom and Jerry were my favorites as a kid. They just don't really make cartoons like they used to in my opinion honestly, but I guess that's why I watch a ton of different animes to make up for that. Yep, Gunther and Rowena are ironically what gave me a huge part of the inspiration that I needed for this story and yep, Rowena's alive in this one... but where's Agni I wonder? And yep, it had been established before I started Kobold Mine that Team Light would be going to a mining town, so I gave myself another shameless self-advertisement with Luculia Town. Yeah, there's a lot going on with Caleb and Horace's mission to the east forest, but you'll learn more about that soon enough. I'm not sure if anyone remembers, but a few chapters ago Camille was shocked to see Salina actually working on her paperwork, that last scene was a typical day in the office for Salina where she ignores the paperwork like a perfectly normal Guild Master. But anyways, Camille won't be lightening up for a while, she had a strict upbringing after all.

**ManhattanTheory- **Yeah, it had been about a month and a half since the omake, but I won't be taking any breaks that are nearly as long any time soon, and don't worry, the action is starting in the next chapter and I suppose you get a little bit of it in this omake as well.

**WrittenWhim- **Like I said in the last chapters review responses, making you people grin like idiots is something that I strive to do, I myself grinned like an idiot after each and every review for last chapter. But yes, the ship names exist and I imagine that more will pop up as time goes on, but whether or not they'll actually happen is a mystery since they can't all become reality. But yeah, I'm rather excited to write out these missions.

**Hikari903278- **Yeah it seems like Euclid can turn anything into working in his favor and I felt compelled to put in some Fairy Tail Mages last chapter, I remember that I was going to, but I can't remember if it was originally Jet and Droy who were going to pop up. Ah, I see, I never got a response when I sent the message, but it's all cleared up now I suppose. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**SaiyaStyles- **Yep, the next actual chapter should definitely be interesting, but you'll see it tomorrow. As for Jachar, I'll pass on him for now since I'll be using your other two like planned. And I think that I'm going to stick with the original Styles that you sent me, not sure why I've decided to, but I guess I would say that it was on a whim.

**MyDearWatson- **Yeah, Looney Tunes was definitely a big part of my childhood so as soon as I realized how similar ASean was to Hassan, I couldn't resist. The first scene of last chapter had been sitting around for over a month, being the only scene that I had figured out. But anyways, I'm glad to hear that you liked it so much! And yeah, Euclid hinted at quite a few things that'll happen in the future and I'm certain that you're the only person who would know what events that scene will eventually lead up to. Rowena and Gunther, pretty much all credit for getting me back on this story ironically goes to two of my Kobold Mine characters. I had started thinking about potential cameo appearances from them and then a certain character who was originally created for Undine's Cove popped into my mind and then all the inspiration for Gunther and Rowena just flooded into my mind. And seemingly fitting with the first scene, it'll all lead up to a certain event in the distant future. And yep, after Gunther and Rowena (that and I had never decided what mining town Team Light would be going to), I chose to have the newly assembled team of mages go to Luculia Town, in which another vague reference was made to a character which fits in with the established pattern so far. So I suppose all my references to Kobold Mine are actually a bit more than just shameless self-advertisement. Alas though, that was the last of the references, but yeah, Styles is found in other stories as well, but I'll be able to dig a little bit into his past early on since he has yet to join the guild, so it should be interesting. And yep, that was Salina's typical day on the job and yeah, it's far too early for Camille to begin lightening up, and yep, when I eventually get to Crocus it'll be interesting to see her interact with the Ealdwines again.

**Master of Anime224- **Yeah, I had accepted Styles as a mage that hadn't joined the guild, and every story that I've seen him in thus far, he started off as a member. So I like to think that I have a bit of a unique opportunity with him. Yeah, Kieron should hopefully prove to be a worthy enemy for Kiyeda and Kaiyo, as well as their guests. Yep, I'm rather pleased with Luculia Town, it's a rather interesting city since it literally wraps around a mountain. And of course our dear friend Euclid needed to make an appearance, you all now know that Euclid isn't his real name if I didn't tell all of you that already, but you haven't learned what it is yet. Aside from that, you can tell he's plotting something as well, but isn't he always?

**FrozenBlast13- **Well, I'm assuming that your asking about Euclid's name, but his real name shall remain a secret and the reason for his alias 'Euclid' is rather simple, there are no records of a person named Euclid, so his origins are unknown since he was born with a different name. So yeah, the long and short is that you can learn basically nothing by looking through official records for a person named Euclid, there's no info on who Euclid is or where he's from, so if no one knows what his real name is, then no one can figure out anything about him. But there are a few people who know who he actually is and what his name is, being Proclus, Aurora, and a few others who have his trust (clearly Rhia is not one of these people). And well, like they said, Gunther and Rowena are siblings through and through, but they've been through quite a bit together.

**Credits:**

**Rokurou Shiraki- dreadburner94**

**Ume Shiraki- dreadburner94**

**Conway Velvet- dreadburner94**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy Part 1 of Salina Velvet's Historical Omake!

* * *

><p><strong>Historical Omake: Salina Velvet Part 1<strong>

**April 8th, X790 at the Mage's Guild Undine's Cove**

Salina Velvet lay in her bed, unable to sleep as she stared up at the ceiling and heard the clock strike midnight.

"April 8th..." she muttered as her eyes glanced at the old clock, "What a bittersweet day..." the Guild Master mused as she started thinking about that day many years ago, "Was it really 43 years ago today? Heh... 51 years-old huh? I suppose Weather Magic isn't half bad when it comes to preserving your looks."

Salina rolled over in her bed to look out the window, seeing the moonlit jungle behind the guild, "I guess we've got more than one squatter out behind our guild now," she muttered as she thought about some of the guild's new recruits, still thoroughly surprised that the Magic Council had gone along with her proposition, "I suppose it isn't wrong to be nostalgic sometimes," the woman mumbled as she let her memories come to life in her head as she closed her eyes, "Tsukiko Shiraki..." she muttered, letting sleep take her.

**. : + : .**

**April 7th, X747 in the small fishing village of Berubetto, Enca**

A young girl ran through the run-down town, an excited and happy look on her face as she neared her home. The girl's name was Tsukiko Shiraki, a young seven year-old girl who stood at about 3'11" with pale skin, a very thin frame, and bright, blue eyes. Her long, silverish blue hair was tied into a high ponytail that fell down to her ankles while her bangs framed her face and covered her forehead. She wore a sleeveless purple top that was trimmed with red, purple arm warmers, and baggy brown pants that were tucked into purple boots.

"Mama! Papa!" Tsukiko called out as she entered the small hut she called home, "I'm back!"

"Oh, Tsukiko, did you bring the bread from the market?" her father, Rokurou Shiraki, asked as Tsukiko presented him with a brown sack.

"Yup!" the young girl nodded as she opened the sack, revealing the three loaves of bread in it.

"Good girl," the man said as he patted Tsukiko's head, "Take them to your mother will you?"

"Okay," she chirped as she skipped into the hut's small kitchen, "Here's the bread, Mama."

"Oh, thank you Tsukiko," the girl's mother, Ume Shiraki, said as she set down the knife she was using as she cleaned her hands off, "You're getting so big now. My little girl's almost 8 years old now," Ume said as she bent down on her knees to give Tsukiko a hug.

"Mama," the young girl whined at the sudden display of affection as Ume gave her a small kiss on the cheek.

"Alright, I'll stop now," her mother chuckled as she stood back up, "Why don't you go and get yourself cleaned up, dinner's almost ready."

**. : + : .**

**April 8th, X790 in Berubetto, Enca**

Tsukiko hid in the tree, waiting... stalking... hunting. Her prey was unaware of her presence, unsure of where she had gone. She laid on the branch as the opportunity to strike arose, her prey had wandered directly beneath as she dropped.

"Yyyyyooouurrrr IT!" she screamed as she dropped on top of the young boy, flattening him against the ground, "And no tag backs!" Tsukiko announced triumphantly as she ran off into the woods to find her next hiding place.

The game 'Tag' was really too easy for Tsukiko, none of the other kids were good at climbing trees, but even with a handicap imposed, they still weren't good enough to take her on.

"That wasn't fair Tsukiko!" a young boy shouted, "You said you wouldn't hide in any trees!"

"You made me promise to not hide in trees to keep from being tagged!" Tsukiko shouted back, "You never said anything about me hiding in trees while I was 'It'," she added as she stuck her tongue out.

"Blue haired bimbo!" the boy yelled.

"Furless Goblin!" Tsukiko shouted back as the boy tackled her, the two kids now wrestling on the ground.

"Tsukiko-chan! Shin-kun! Stop it," a girl pleaded as the boy named Shin rubbed mud in Tsukiko's blue hair, only to get kicked off of her as Tsukiko slammed Shin's face into the mud, only to get tackled by another one of the boys, "Taichi-kun!" the girl whined again as he tackled Tsukiko off of Shin.

"I've got this!" Tsukiko shouted as she planted a kick in Taichi's weak spot, watching him roll off of her with a smirk as he lay in pain, "And that's why girls are better than boys!" Tsukiko announced as she stood up, "We've got no weak spots!"

"Taichi!" Shin yelled as he watched his friend lay on the ground in pain, "Why you..." he growled as he tackled Tsukiko again.

"Shin! Stop that at once!" they heard a grown man shout.

"Urk... Shiraki-san," Shin muttered as he saw Tsukiko's father approach.

"Alright, all of you go home at once!" the man ordered as he picked up his daughter.

"Papa..." Tsukiko whispered as Rokurou began walking home with her in his arms.

"Of all days to get into another fight, you choose your birthday," her father sighed, "What am I going to do with you?" he continued as Tsukiko averted her eyes, "Well, I suppose I should take you to your mother so that she can get you cleaned up."

"Okay, papa," Tsukiko whispered happily.

**. : + : .**

"They really got a lot of mud into your hair this time," Ume sighed as she washed her daughter's long hair, which was now filled with clumps of brown mud.

"Shin started it," Tsukiko whined.

"Tsukiko... just because someone starts something doesn't mean that you have to finish it," Ume chastised as she washed out a rather large clump of mud, "Your hurt Taichi pretty badly you know."

"If he's as tough as he says he is he'll be fine," the young girl grumbled as her mother gave her a light tap on the head.

"Tsukiko Shiraki," Ume warned.

"Urk! I'll apologize the next time I see him."

"I'm glad that you understand," her mother said happily.

'S-scary,' Tsukiko thought as her mother dumped a bucket of cold water on her.

**. : + : . **

"Alright Tsukiko, close your eyes and hold out your hands," Rokurou said after dinner, watching his daughter do what he told her to as he placed her present in her hands, "You can open them now."

Tsukiko opened her eyes to see a purple, oil-paper umbrella in her hands and opening it revealed a silver moon on the umbrella and she could tell that it was rather expensive for her poor family.

"What do you think?" Ume asked after watching Tsukiko examine the present.

"I love it!" she said happily as she twirled it above her head before closing it and running over to her parents, "Thank you!" she said as she embraced her parents.

**. : + : .**

Tsukiko awoke to what sounded like a roar, it was continuous and unending, so it couldn't be an animal, "What's that noise?" she said groggily as she rolled out of bed and opened the window, "A... a fire!?" she screamed as she saw the flames rising from a nearby house before seeing a villager being chased across town by a man with a sword, "What's going on?" she gasped as she watched the villager be cut down, "Mama! Papa!" she screamed as she grabbed her new umbrella and ran out of her room, only to see a man dressed the same as the one outside run her father through with a sword.

"Ts-Tsukiko..." her father said quietly as blood leaked from his mouth, "R-run!"

"Wh-where's mama?" she asked, petrified from fear, only to see her father's face twist with sadness.

"Go!" he screamed as he grabbed a knife from the kitchen table and stabbed the man with the sword, "I said go!" he screamed one last time as Tsukiko made her escape from the house.

Tsukiko froze in her tracks as she saw the many bodies littering the ground, some where cut to pieces while others were burning, the stench of burnt flesh permeating throughout the air, "Why? Why is this happening!?" she screamed as she heard thunder crack.

"There's another one!" she heard a man yell.

"No! Stay away!" Tsukiko screamed as another thunder crack reverberated throughout the area.

"I see her! Get her!" a man yelled as he and another one ran towards her, swords drawn.

"I said stay away!" the young girl screamed, louder than ever as a lightning bolt fell from the sky and struck one of the men, killing him instantly as the other man was flung from where he stood by the force of the lightning, "What's going on?" Tsukiko sobbed as she looked at the symbol on the back of the unconscious man's tunic, "A war party? But... But why our village? What did we have that anyone would want!?" she screamed as rain began to fall on the village, another lightning bolt striking somewhere nearby.

Tsukiko collapsed to the ground, tears running down her face as she watched her village slowly burn. She slowly opened her umbrella, listening to the bolts of lightning strike the village and the sound of the rain.

**. : + : .**

**April 9th, X747 in the ruins of Berubetto, Enca**

Tsukiko slowly opened her eyes, all of the memories of the previous night coming back to her as she saw the ruins of her village and the many corpses littering the ground.

"Th-that's right," she sobbed as she began crying once more as the sky began to cry along with her, "I should look to see if anyone's still alive," Tsukiko mumbled sadly as she picked up her umbrella before she began walking aimlessly through the ruins.

The girl's search was long and fruitless, she found no one else there in the ruins, the rain falling harder and harder with each corpse found until she came across the ruins of her old home.

"Mama... Papa..." She sobbed as she remembered her father's sacrifice, "Papa..." she whispered once more as she began to remember the many tales he used to tell her of his life at sea, "The dock," she muttered quietly as she slowly made her way there.

Tsukiko looked down at the small fishing boat for a short moment before looking over at a barrel, opening the lid so that she could see what was inside, "Fruit," she said quietly before picking up a brown sack and filling it as much of the fruit it could hold before setting out to find a flask of water, eventually finding one and filling it with water before hopping onto the boat and setting sail, letting the wind take her where it pleased.

**. : + : .**

**September 21st, X747 in Hargeon, Fiore**

It was long journey, many times did her boat run ashore in different countries, seemingly whenever she needed more food or water, it was as if the very winds were guiding her and protecting her. But this time, Tsukiko had been without food or water for several days and she could hardly move, let alone open her eyes, but she was sure to grip her umbrella in her arms so that she wouldn't lose it. She could tell from all of the noise that she was in a port town, but she couldn't understand anything being said by the local sailors.

"Oi! Is that a girl?" an older sailor said in astonishment, "Help me bring her ashore!" he shouted as he and several other sailors brought the boat over to the dock before the older sailor picked Tsukiko up, "I'm taking her to the hospital!" he shouted as he carried the young girl carefully in his muscular arms.

**. : + : .**

**October 15th, X747 in Hargeon, Fiore**

Tsukiko sat in her hospital bed, having been brought back to health by the kind nurses and doctors. The kind old sailor had visited her many times, although she couldn't understand him at first since she only knew how to speak Encan, but he had slowly managed to teach her Fioran, although she still had a bit of trouble with pronouncing some of the letters. Since the old man couldn't understand her he had come to calling her Salina, which meant 'moon', after seeing the crescent moon on the umbrella she cared for so much.

"How are you doing?" the old sailor named Conway Velvet asked as he entered her room, seeing her sitting up.

"F-fine," Salina answered, struggling with the pronunciation of the word, "You are... bery kind."

"Still having some trouble with those v's and b's huh?" Conway chuckled.

"It... is not kind to... make fun of me, Berrubet... erm... Velvet-san," Salina managed to say, finally being able to say his name correctly.

"Oi! You said it right!" he laughed proudly as a small smile crossed Salina's face, "How about I tell you a story?"

"What story?" she asked, her eyes lighting up with curiosity.

"It's a legend of a nearby cove, the legend of the Undine's Cove."

**. : + : .**

**April 8th, X790 in the Mage's Guild Undine's Cove**

"Salina! Salina!" she heard Jezabelle call out as Salina finished getting ready for the day.

"What is it?" Salina asked as opened the door to her room, her light blue umbrella in hand.

"Come on!" the S-Class mage said suddenly as she grabbed Salina's arm and pulled her out of the door and through the guildhall until she had pulled her outside.

"Where are we going Jezabelle? Why're you in such a rush?" the older woman asked as Jezabelle continued dragging Salina towards Hargeon, unaware of the three mages watching her.

**. : + : . **

"Okay, we're in Hargeon, why'd you drag me hear?" Salina asked, slightly annoyed at the fact that Jezabelle had ignored all of her questions.

"Umm... That is... Er..." Jezabelle mumbled, unsure of what to do since she was just told to keep Salina out of the guild for a few hours, "Oh! That's right!"

"What?"

"Yajima wanted to see you at 8-Island!"

"Why didn't you just say so then?" Salina sighed as she began walking towards the restaurant, her agitation raising the temperature around Hargeon and the guild.

As the two women approached the restaurant, Jezabelle quickly ran ahead to get inside, causing Salina to raise an eyebrow at the woman's strange behavior as she entered the restaurant, to see a panicked Jezabelle and a calm Yajima.

"Ah, Salina, so good of you to stop by," the old man said with a smile on his face.

"You wanted to see me?" the Guild Master asked, now aware that something was going on.

"Ah yes, you see I just wanted to talk some," Yajima said kindly, "We haven't sat down for a chat in a while."

"That is true," Salina mumbled, "Very well then."

**. : + : .**

"Ahahahaha! And then the next thing that Lyon noticed was that he was grappling with Archer in nothing but his underwear! I don't even know how he lost his clothes and I watched the entire thing!" Salina laughed happily, slightly drunk, "Chelia got all googly eyed and promptly tackled Archer out of jealousy!"

"Heh heh heh," Yajima laughed, "It sounds like a very exciting guild."

"Yeah, I had some pretty interesting adventures in Lamia Scale," Salina sighed, "Well, I think I should get going. Someone might've burned down the guild by now."

"Very true," the older man chuckled as he hopped out of the booth, "It was good talking with you again."

"Likewise," Salina said as she stood up, "Jezabelle?" she called out, not seeing the S-Class Mage anywhere, "Guess she left."

**. : + : .**

Salina walked down the path to her guild, the sun beating down on her, being unusually hot for April, "I guess it's hot out because I'm happy," she sighed as she opened her light blue, oil-paper umbrella.

When Salina arrived at the guildhall, she saw that it had been decorated with banners and the like, there were several long tables in front of the guildhall covered with plates of food and all of her mages were out on the beach wearing swimsuits.

"What's going on?" she asked in astonishment as she looked around before seeing Miriam trying to get someone to come out of the girl's dorm. Miriam was wearing a blue bikini top with a matching bikini skirt.

"C'mon Camille," she said as she tried to drag her friend out of the building.

"I can't go out there wearing something like this," Camille whined, "What were you thinking getting me something so revealing?"

"Just c'mon!" Miriam shouted as she finally managed to pull Camille out of the dorm, the girl wearing a burgundy bikini that had black trim lining both pieces of it.

"Oh? You managed to get Camille into swimwear, impressive," Salina commented as she approached the two girls.

"Master!" Camille yelped as she immediately covered her chest with her arms, a heavy blush on her face.

"Camille," Salina sighed as she saw Rayner walk up to them wearing a pair of midnight blue swim trunks that had a black, wavy line pattern on it that was similar to his curse mark, which was left uncovered, revealing the black, star-shaped mark on his right pectoral that was the origin of the mark covering his neck and face.

"Yo!" he called out, holding a purple, oil-paper umbrella in his hands, "Looking fine you two," he said as Miriam and Camille were quickly at his throat.

"Keep your perverted remarks to yourself you idiot!" Miriam yelled.

"Are you trying to make me angry, Rayner?" Camille asked darkly as Rayner raised his empty hand in defense.

"Relax you two, you might damage the present," he laughed as he slipped between the two girls before presenting Salina with the umbrella, "Happy Birthday!"

"Eh? Birthday?" she repeated quietly before remembering what the date was, "April 8th..." she whispered as took the umbrella from Rayner, opening it to see that it was the very same oil-paper umbrella that was given to her by her parents, "This is..."

"I remembered how upset you were when it broke," Rayner explained, "So the three of us came up with the idea of getting it restored for your birthday. The party was everyone else's idea."

"Th- Thank you," she sobbed in her first language, which she hadn't spoken in years, "Thank you all so much!" she sobbed again as she held the restored umbrella up against her chest, the three young mages looking at her with smiles on their faces.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there we are, Part 1 of Salina Velvet's Historical Omake! This is the first chapter of my 7 Day challenge, where I come out with one chapter a day from July 1st to July 7th (a familiar week in Fairy Tail no?) so expect another chapter tomorrow!

Please remember to leave a review!

Your Host,

dreadburner94.


	20. Styles and Kimi Kaizu

**A/N: **Yo! Here we are with Chapter 16!

The OC submissions are still open for all of your information, see Chapter 15 for details and the Prologue for the OC Form. 3 Spots have been taken now, so up to 4 more will be accepted.

Alright, Day 2 of the 7 Day Challenge, July 2nd. Fortunately for me, I actually had this chapter partly written already when I remembered the challenge that I decided to do back in April I think, so a good portion of it was already done when I started work on Salina's Omake.

Anyways, I'd like to thank SaiyaStyles, WaterDragonMaverick, QueenKazza, potentialauthor18, lexlovesya, ManhattanTheory, WrittenWhim, MyDearWatson, Hikari903278, and LightandDarkHeart for their reviews for the omake!

**SaiyaStyles- **Yeah I kinda just threw you all into the middle of it all by calling Salina by an unfamiliar name for most of the omake, but I'm glad that you liked it!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **We'll have to see about a Dragon Slayer's omake, but it would be the 7th of July... And yeah, Euclid is rarely wrong when it comes to knowing other people's business, so if he says something about someone else, you should take note of it. In which case, he is entirely right in saying that most members of Undine's Cove have lost something or are looking for something, and Salina falls into the category of loss, being her family and village. And you might've been able to notice, but Camille was completely against the bikini as Miriam was the person who bought it for her and forced her to wear it. Camille is really against getting into the water period to be honest. And you will all learn more about the history of the Cove at a later date. And yeah, she awoke to her magic that night, but was completely unaware of it at the time since it just seemed like a freak storm and then just like a ridiculous amount of luck saving her when she needed to restock on food and such.

**QueenKazza- **Yeah, I'm pretty sure that Salina had one of the worst birthdays ever, but fortunately for her, her magic awoke with her emotions of despair and saved her, even though she was unaware of it all since it just seemed like a bad storm. But yeah, I felt awfully bad doing that to young Salina, or Tsukiko rather, since I'm rather fond of little Salina myself. And yep, when she's drunk in the slightest, Salina tends to tell embarrassing stories of other people, whether it be of Lamia Scale or Undine's Cove. But yeah, the war band that attacked her village seemed to come with little to no reason, so it was a very mysterious event that Salina still ponders about to this day. And given the fact that out of all the members of Undine's Cove, Camille and Rayner have the most history with Salina, they were the most appropriate to have repaired the old umbrella, but don't worry, we'll see more of Jayne this week when I get to the final set of missions this arc in a few days.

**potentialauthor18- **Don't worry about it, I understand that real life can keep a person rather busy, but any and all reviews are appreciated. And yep, Salina Velvet is the Fioran name of Tsukiko Shiraki, but both Salina and Tsukiko have similar meanings, being 'Moon' and 'Moon Child' respectively. And for a bit of trivia, Berrubetto means Velvet, or is at least a way to pronounce it in Japanese since it is also Birōdo, which I somewhat hinted towards when Salina was trying to pronounce 'Velvet', which is the reason why she continues to use her Fioran name over her Encan one. And yeah, this challenge of mine will probably be a bit intense, but fortunately I prepared before hand a little bit.

**lexlovesya- **Yep, a chapter a day for seven days, so things will be a little intense for me. But I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed part 1 of Salina's Historical Omake!

**ManhattanTheory- **Yeah, I'd like to think that I sent you all on a bit of an emotional roller coaster with that one, but I'm glad to hear that you all liked it.

**WrittenWhim- **Yeah, a chapter a day for a week sounds like a bit of a stretch for me, but I decided to do it, so I shall. But I'm confused by your review kinda, since you said that you're "Wondering what all they have to do with her" and never clarified who/what "All They" are, so I'll just answer to the best of my ability of interpretation: the omake has everything to do with Salina since she was in every single scene since she was born as Tsukiko Shiraki. I probably completely misinterpreted your review...

**MyDearWatson- **To be honest, I had forgotten about the challenge until this past Sunday, which was when I started to write the omake and I had it done on Monday, so it sat around for a little while. But yeah, the first part of Salina's omake, like Camille's, is the saddest part, but yeah, she was a bit of a firecracker when she was a little girl, always beating up on all of the boys in the village. And yep, Salina's from Enca like someone else you know and yeah, that first umbrella was the one most important to her, so it really meant a lot for it to have been fixed.

**Hikari903278- **Yeah, everyone that Salina knew and loved were killed within the span of a few hours, on her birthday too, so sad might just be an understatement here. And yeah, just trying to imagine the exact emotions and thoughts running through her mind at the time is incredibly difficult and it isn't something that someone can really comprehend all that well. But yeah, depressing is a good word for a good portion of that omake.

**LightandDarkHeart- **Yeah, I knew it wasn't going to be easy in the least, but that's why I got myself a head start. Anyways, I'm happy to hear that you found that first part of Salina's past to be interesting and there's still a lot to be said about her past since she has the longest history. Well then I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Credits:**

**Kieron Shamus- dreadburner94**

**Kyria Kessler- LightandDarkHeart**

**Styles Kaizu and Nina- SaiyaStyles**

**Kimi Kaizu- SaiyaStyles**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 16<strong>

"So what can you tell us about Kieron?" Kiyeda asked from her seat in the Magic Vehicle.

"He's dangerous," Gunther answered from his seat across from the two Undine's Cove mages while Rowena drove from the front of the vehicle, "He uses Wire Magic so don't let it touch you, or you'll be cut to ribbons."

"Is there anything else?" Kaiyo asked, sounding unimpressed by Kieron's magic.

"Hmph, as a matter of fact yes," the older man answered with a serious expression, "The things you should be most worried about are the 'gifts' from his master."

"Why? What are they and what's so dangerous about them?" the S-Class mage asked.

"I'm unsure about what they really are, but they look like some sort of shadow puppet," Gunther answered, "They should never be attacked from up close, unless you have a death wish that is."

"How are we supposed to fight something we can't touch?" Kaiyo asked, now realizing why this man, Kieron Shamus, was so dangerous.

"From a distance is the only option," Gunther quickly responded, "Although my shroud should be able to provide me with enough protection to fight them up close. So if either of you find yourselves up against the shadow puppets, get away from them or they will devour you."

"Devour?" Kaiyo repeated.

"You mean these things eat people!?" Kiyeda asked, now thoroughly worried about the mission.

Gunther looked at them in silence for a short while, a grim look crossing his face as he began to speak again, "Yes... These puppets... these living Nightmares leave nothing of their victims. They will devour everything, your skin, your hair, your bones, your clothes, weapons... We watched someone... Someone we both cared for... Get swallowed whole by those monsters," he explained, his expression turning to one of sorrow by the time he finished.

"So that's why you were so insistent on taking this mission," Kiyeda said softly as the vehicle stopped.

"Brother," Rowena said softly as she opened the door to the cabin, "We're close... see?"

"Any sign of Kieron?" Gunther asked as he got out of the vehicle with Kiyeda and Kaiyo.

"There's a large mass of the monsters at the bottom of the canyon," Rowena replied, "I think he might be leading them."

"We should try and get the drop on him them," Kaiyo suggested, an eager expression on his face.

"That could be dangerous Kaiyo," Kiyeda warned, "Neither of us really have that many ranged spells, or at least any that we can use enough times to take out that many enemies."

"You two at least have ranged spells though?" Gunther asked.

"Well we do, but their not suited to fighting this many opponents," the S-Class mage responded, noting the displeased expression on the older mage's face.

"Well I'll take the first shot then. You two try and take out any enemies that try and climb the wall. Rowena will keep us healthy," the raven-haired man said as his expression became serious, "If we get overwhelmed, I have an ace-in-the-hole that'll even the odds for you two, but you'll have to get away from me so that I can use it."

"Well best of luck to you then," Kaiyo said as a black bow appeared in Gunther's hand.

"Projection Magic: Kaladbolg II," the Projection Mage whispered as a sword with a twisted blade that resembled a screw appeared in his hand as he readied his bow, preparing to shoot the spiral sword like an arrow while he looked down into the canyon, seeing Kieron leading the horde of Nightmares through it.

Kieron looked exactly as Gunther remembered, he stood at 5'7" with a muscular build with a sandy complexion and messy, sandy brown hair and silver colored eyes. The man was unassumingly dressed as he wore a simple, button-up black shirt with tan khakis that were held up with a black leather belt that had a silver chain hanging off of it and a pair of black shoes.

Gunther looked over at the horde off monsters, the memories coming back to him. He had originally underestimated the black, jellyfish-like monsters. Their appearance made them seem like not much of a threat, but one alone was capable of wiping out a city if not stopped.

"Trace," Gunther muttered, "Analyze... Reinforce... Detonate," he continued as he released his 'arrow', the blade flying down towards the front of the horde of monsters, straight towards Kieron's head.

"Hm?" Kieron hummed as he saw the 'arrow' fly through the air, "An attack?" he asked himself as he lifted one of his arms, the wire that was attached to it coming to life as it intercepted and cut the 'arrow' in half, causing the two pieces to fly past Kieron and the horde as they impacted against the canyon wall and detonated, "Kill them," he ordered as the horde of Nightmares began climbing up the cliff.

"Here they come!" Kiyeda yelled as the monsters began their ascent, "Angel Knight..." the girl muttered as her topaz blue wings appeared on her back, "Prayer Circle!" she yelled as a magic circle appeared on the wall under a group of monsters, releasing a beam of light that caused several of the creatures to fall back towards the ground, "Kaiyo!"

"I know I know!" he yelled as he pulled his fist back, "Raven God Magic: White Mist Raven!" he shouted as he through his fist forward, sending out a wave of magic energy in the shape of a large white raven down the cliff, clearing a path straight down it as the Nightmares fell back to the ground.

"They're climbing back up!" Rowena yelled as she watched the creatures get back up to resume their climb.

"Well then we'll just send them back down!" Kaiyo shouted as he let loose another spell.

"Hmph... They didn't know the strength of their enemies," Kieron scoffed as he watched the three mages try to keep his servants from climbing the cliff, "These may be base Nightmares, but they're rather resilient," he noted as he watched Gunther punch a hole through one of the creatures with an arrow, only for it to regenerate.

"Shit... We're getting nowhere!" Gunther yelled as the monsters just got right back up to keep climbing every time they got sent back down.

"Have we even managed to kill one yet?" Kiyeda asked as she set off another Prayer Circle.

"No... they just keep getting back up and regenerating!" Kaiyo shouted as the monsters continued their steady advance, completely focused on the enemies in front of them.

"Brother!" they heard Rowena shout from behind them, "They're behind us!" she screamed as the three mages turned around seeing a large monster swelling up near Rowena as she scrambled away.

"Dammit!" Gunther cursed as he turned around to face the enemies they let slip behind them, "Rho Aias!" Gunther screamed as the Nightmare detonated, releasing a large explosion as a large, crystalline shield appeared.

**. : + : .**

"This is where the Golems were awoken," Edina announced as she stood in front of a large mining shaft that had signs all around it, warning people to stay away for their safety, "We still have many miners listed as missing, so if you could please find them as well..."

"You know that they're most likely dead though," Haru said coldly as she looked into the dark cave.

"I know... but please... If only to provide their families with a sense of closure," Edina pleaded.

"Look," Varic started, "If we find them, we find them, but we won't be dragging corpses out of the mine when there's something more important that needs done."

"I- I understand..." Edina mumbled in defeat, "I wish you all good luck," the young lady added as she began the walk back to the keep.

"That was a little harsh you two," Rakki chastised as the three mages began to walk into the mine.

"Yeah, well I don't like to take extra objectives when there's no reason to," Varic said coldly, "And like Haru said, they're most likely all dead anyways."

"But still!" the Exceed began to say as Light cut her off.

"That's enough Rakki..." the Dragon Slayer whispered, "I wasn't too excited to stumble around a mine looking for corpses either. I'd rather go in and get the mission over with."

"I understand," Rakki sighed, but she could tell that her partner was feeling a bit conflicted about the decision by the look on her face, 'You really want to do all that you can to help, don't you?' the Exceed thought as Light lit up her hand with her magic.

The three mages walked deeper into the mine, finding a few corpses strewn about as they went, fortunately for them, the golems seemed to kill though blunt force rather than through ripping and tearing, so the stench wasn't as bad as it could've been.

"I'll never get used to the stench corpses give off," Haru complained as she stepped over a corpse.

"We should just be glad that scavengers haven't gotten to them yet, it'd be really bad then," Varic added with a bit of thankfulness in his voice as they both followed Light through the mine.

"If you two think you've got it bad, just put yourselves in our shoes," the Dragon Slayer said with her voice sounding slightly off due to her plugging her nose.

"Oh, that's right, enhanced sense of smell. Man this has gotta reek to you two," Varic chuckled as they cleared the passage full of corpses.

"Wait!" Light hissed, "There's something ahead," she whispered as dozens of kobolds ran at them from the darkness ahead.

"Look out!" Haru shouted as she got ready to fight, only to be left dumbfounded as the kobolds ran past them, "What was that about?"

"Guys, there's something worse ahead," Light warned as they heard a rumbling, the cave shaking slightly as a stone giant came out of the darkness.

"Just one?" Varic asked.

"No... several," Light said in slight awe as more of the stone constructs appeared from behind the first to arrive.

**. : + : .**

Caleb and Horace continued their advance through the forest, having rendered several groups stubborn hunters unconscious as they went.

"How much more of this forest is there to search?" Caleb asked out loud.

"I imagine that we'll find the man soon," Horace chuckled as he floated behind the healer, "Hold on for a moment. It seems we have guests," Horace pointed out as a group of mages appeared in the clearing they were walking in.

"Twilight Ogre," Caleb said lowly, as if the name of the guild was a sort of curse.

"Hm... they seem as big of buffoons as I imagined," Horace said to himself as he observed the large group.

"Oi! Who're you callin' buffoons!?" a large mage carrying a hammer shouted.

"Hmph, they're not even worth our time," Caleb said coldly as he pulled his right hand out of his pants pocket as he reached into the pocket on the back of his coat.

"I recognize that mark Thibault!" a shorter mage yelled, "They're from Undine's Cove!"

"Undine's Cove?" the man presumably name Thibault repeated, "They took away a lot of business when they formed their itty bitty guild down in Hargeon! Oh Master Banaboster is gonna give us a huge reward for taking them down!"

"Tch, what disgusting people," Caleb muttered as he pulled his hand out from his coat pocket, letting loose a storm of senbon, striking all but Thibault in several of their pressure points, rendering them unconscious.

"Nice throw," Horace complimented as the Twilight Ogre mage looked on in shock.

"Your gonna get it now!" the enraged mage screamed as he charged towards the two men while waving his club around.

"Support Magic: Boost Pain Reception," Caleb said calmly as he cast his spell, side-stepping the mage as he struck him on the back of the neck, quickly rendering him unconscious due to his heightened sense of pain.

"You can definitely be quite fearsome when you wish to be," Horace observed, "It is an interesting trait for a healer."

Caleb took off his glasses for a moment to clean the dust off of them with a cloth while he took in Horace's observation, "One must be able to fight in order to prevent a tragedy," he said quietly as he put his glasses back on, "A healer can only treat the after-effects of one and even then... it'll never be enough for those left behind."

"Well said" the older man agreed, "It sounds as though you speak from experience."

"Oh you bet he does!" a woman's voice called out from somewhere in the woods.

"Who's there!? Show yourself!" Caleb demanded as a woman dropped down from a tree.

"Well, if you insist," the woman said in a sultry tone as she stared the two men down.

Horace looked the woman up and down as he made note of her appearance, "About 5'6"," he muttered, "Toned build, pale skin, larger than average bust, noticeable curves, long legs," he continued as he began to mutter about her hair, "Long silver hair, tied up in a high ponytail with a red ribbon, bangs framing her oval-shaped face, red eyes, almond shaped, two gold teardrop tattoos under them, and many piercings in her ears. Hm... I see, she must have a troubled past," he added as he began to describe her clothes out loud, "Black, sleeveless vest, plenty of zippers and a pair of fingerless gloves that go up to her elbows. Red bikini top under the vest, black cargo pants held up with a wide chain, which also holds a sword, a katana by the looks of it. Black leather boots, red laces, metal toes, and lastly a silver ring on her right, middle finger and a silver rose pendant."

"Wow, you're just as creepy as the boss said," the woman said in slight awe.

"No, I am merely observant," Horace countered as a large, black wolf with purple and red, cat-like eyes dropped down behind the woman.

"Kyria! I can't possess this wolf much longer! Some kind of magic is forcing me out!" the wolf shouted.

"Alright, alright, I guess we don't really need to kidnap the wolf when the doll seemed to do the trick all on it's own," Kyria sighed, "Just make sure that you get that wolf far away before you release it, Proclus."

"I know," Proclus grunted as he took off.

"Caleb," Horace said suddenly, "You should go and find Styles. Something foul is going on."

"Are you sure?" the healer asked, Horace responding with a simple nod, "Very well," Caleb said as he ran off into the woods.

"Your boss wouldn't happen to be a man named Euclid, would he?" Horace after Caleb managed to get a good distance away.

"Right on the money there," the woman responded.

"What does he have to gain from all of this I wonder?"

"It's simple really. I'll even tell you," Kyria smirked, "He wanted to see how your guild would react to all of this and it's been quite interesting so far."

"So he's running an experiment and we're the lab rats," Horace mused as his deranged smile broke out on his face, "Well then, as a scientist I can't allow him to look down on me!"

**. : + : .**

Caleb continued to run through the forest, still unsure of his decision to split from Horace, but he knew that the man wasn't an S-Class Mage for nothing.

'Sounds of fighting?' he thought to himself as he heard a scream.

"Styles!" a girl shouted as the young man near her shook what seemed to be a mutated lizard from his arm.

"Dammit... Filthy humans," the man, presumably named Styles, cursed as he used his large, black scythe to block an attack from another mutated beast, "First they take Mr. Voodoo from Kimi, then they try and take Nina... and now..." he growled, seemingly overcome with rage over the circumstances.

The man stood at an average height, about 5'10", with slightly tan skin and an athletic build. He had cold silver eyes, elongated canines, and pointed ears. Styles wore a black, hooded jacket over a black t-shirt with the hood up and a pair of white skinny jeans. He wore black, slip-on vans and he had a red jeweled amulet around his neck, as well as a pair of wireless, black headphones.

"Summoning Minion Magic: Fairy!" the girl, who was presumably named Kimi, shouted as a small fairy appeared, casting a healing spell on Styles before disappearing.

Kimi stood at 5'7", with a slightly lighter skin tone than Styles. She had a voluptuous build with a large bust and large, violet eyes. She had raven-black hair that was kept in a bob cut with her bangs covering her right eye, which were dyed purple. She wore a short black dress with a small purple Jacket and a white undershirt with a frilly black skirt. Kimi also wore black socks with a pair of black converse shoes, and she wore a purple choker around her neck. Lastly, she wore a purple belt, black and purple headphones, purple stud earrings, and she had purple lipstick.

"I can't believe they would do this to the animals," Kimi growled as she looked around at the animals that had been mutated by their enemy's magic.

"I just hope we're not too late to save Nina," Styles muttered as he got ready for another attack.

**. : + : .**

"Hey! I think she's waking up!" Jewul heard a slightly familiar voice call out.

"You sure? It looks like she's just thrashing around again to me," another male voice, one more serious, said.

"Ooh! Ooh! Do you think she's having a stroke?" an excitable female voice asked as Jewul finally opened her eyes, only to see Malon's face right up in front of her's, their noses barely a centimeter away from each other, "Are you dying?" Malon asked suddenly, startling Jewul as she crawled away from the other girl.

"The hell?" she gasped as she looked around, seeing Fareth, Jace, and Rave in what seemed to be an infirmary, but with no doctor or healer in sight, "Where am I?" she finally managed to ask, "What happened?"

"You challenged Salina to a fight and got your ass handed to you, that's what happened," Fareth answered with a tone of harshness to his voice, still upset that he was completely broke from the last mission and the repairs he had to pay for.

"You've been resting in the infirmary ever since," Jace finished as Rave nodded in affirmation.

"Oh! That means you're joining the guild now, right?" Malon asked happily, "After all you said: I won't work for anyone weaker than me!" Malon added in her best Jewul impersonation, Willow bouncing around in the air around her while making cooing noises.

"A deal's a deal I suppose," Jewul sighed, unhappy to learn that she had been beaten by Salina with relative ease.

"Alright! Let's go get you all signed up!" Malon cheered happily as she hopped off of the bed, Willow following her out of the infirmary.

"C'mon, I'm sure that Salina would like to talk to you some," Jace said reassuringly as he helped Jewul off of the bed, before following Fareth out of the small building.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there it is! Chapter 16! Day 2 of the 7 Day Challenge is complete! 5 more to go until July 7th!

Okay, just one small note before I wrap this up. Those enemies introduced in the first scene are rather important in long term, but you'll learn more about them and what they are exactly in the future.

Please remember to leave a review!

Your Host,

dreadburner94.


	21. The Bandaged Man

**A/N: **Alright! Day 3 of the 7 Day Challenge! Chapter 17 is here for your reading pleasure!

I just realized that this was a horrible week for me to do this challenge since I'm actually in the process of moving (I moved a whole lot of furniture and boxes today), but I've already committed to this so on I go, one day at a time. But also... technology is amazing. Without my phone I would've failed the challenge since I learned that the house I just moved into today won't have internet for a few days, but I figured out that my phone could act as a wireless hotspot so I can continue the challenge.

Okay! I'd like to thank WaterDragonMaverick, Hikari903278, FrozenBlast13, SaiyaStyles, Master of Anime224, PrinceoftheMatrix88, WrittenWhim, ManhattanTheory, QueenKazza, MyDearWatson, LightandDarkHeart, potentialauthor18, and writtenmindset for their reviews last chapter!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **To be perfectly honest, Schrodinger slipped my mind until after I had written that scene, so I just decided to leave it as is rather than go back and give him something else. And yep, we got to see some Kobolds run through the mine for a moment until the golems made their appearance. And yes, Caleb is definitely a badass, seeing as he can fight well without any true offensive magic at all, but there are reasons for why he learned to fight even though he's a healer. Yeah, Horace has got to take all those note, despite how creepy it is for him to just start describing what the woman in front of him looks like and yeah, the wolf is certainly not happy with having Proclus try and take over her body.

**Hikari903278- **The first part of your review I addressed in a PM since I decided that it was more appropriate to keep such a conversation private, whether you bothered to read it or not I'm not sure since you haven't responded, but I addressed it there. Anywho, I'm happy to hear that I've gotten the portrayal of Rakki down and I'm not that great of a writer, I wind up going back and doing edits for grammar and spelling that I miss a lot.

**FrozenBlast13- **Yeah, Salina has a pretty tragic past, but you'll all learn more about Conway Velvet at a later date. As for the Nightmares, you'll learn all about them at a later date, but I don't think that Erza would do any better than Gunther really since both of their fighting styles have to do with weapons, she might be able to take out more at once, but they'd get back up most likely. As for the golems, they seem to be much less of a threat than everything else going on, but they still shouldn't be underestimated. And yeah, the fact that Caleb can use his Support Magic for offense is rather strange, but also rather ingenious on his part.

**SaiyaStyles- **Yeah, Styles really isn't going to be very happy with the magic that his enemy is using and I'm certain that the Information Broker and his agents have made themselves enemies of Styles and Kimi for what they're doing.

**Master of Anime224- **Yep, I decided back in April that since this a very important week in Fairy Tail, that I'd try and post a chapter every day from July 1st to July 7th. And yeah, I was kinda trying to throw you all for a ride by calling Salina 'Tsukiko' with no prior warning other than Salina saying the name herself.

**PrinceoftheMatrix88- **Don't worry, it's perfectly fine if you're unable to review, I'm actually rather busy this week as well, asides for the challenge. But I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the chapter and I hope you enjoy the ones to come as well!

**WrittenWhim- **Well, don't worry about it, but anyways, you'll all learn more about the Nightmares eventually, all you need to know is that they're rather important in the long-term for now. But yeah, when is that Info Broker not up to something? Although his motives this time around are much simpler than before, but his long-term goal is still a mystery.

**ManhattanTheory- **Yep, the action started last chapter and there's even more to come in this chapter! I hope you enjoy it!

**QueenKazza- **Well I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the fight scenes so much last chapter! Hopefully the ones in this chapter will turn out to be even better!

**MyDearWatson- **Yep, there's a whole lot going on in that first scene and yeah, simple projection is just a small bit of Gunther's magic as you know and we'll get to see more of what all he and Kiyeda and Kaiyo can do this chapter since ranged attacks aren't necessarily their forte. And yeah, you're on the right track with your train of thought with the Nightmares and I'll actually need to talk to you about them some. Although speaking about that certain mage... I kinda sorta had the same idea as you when it came to introducing him... But it's good to hear that the last chapter gave you some inspiration for Thunder Stone, hopefully the chapters to come later this week will benefit you in same fashion. And curse those cliffhangers! But they're soooo easy and fun to use since I just enjoy teasing readers like that, I know I know, I'm kinda cruel like that. And yep, Rakki is more or less the conscious of the group since she's the most friendly out of them overall, sure Varic is also rather friendly, but as you can tell, he is unwilling to go the extra mile when there's no reason for him to. And yeah, I wouldn't be too thrilled to find a bunch of corpses either. And yeah, Caleb doesn't have a problem with fighting since he does go around rendering his own guild mates unconscious if they don't come see him after a mission. Yeah, I can understand how one would forget Horace since he spends most of his time locked in his room, but like all S-Class Mages, he shouldn't be underestimated.

**LightandDarkHeart- **Yeah, since you submitted a villain when you could've submitted a member of the guild I decided to have Kyria be a part of a group that'll be around for the entire story more or less, being Euclid's group of misfits since she actually fits in rather well with them. But yeah, that mission should be interesting.

**potentialauthor18- **Yep, there'll be characters that I made that are in both Kobold Mine and Undine's Cove as you can tell. But yeah, don't go forgetting about those Nightmares, they're pretty dark and that's just one variety of them (also the weakest). And yeah, Caleb's got his doctorate in ass kicking, graduated top of his class, so don't mess with the guild's healer. And yeah, Horace is about to let loose and go all out since Euclid is using him as a lab rat, which is an insult to Horace's pride as a scientist.

**writtenmindset- **I just noticed your review and so I decided to add in a response here. But I'm glad to hear that you've enjoyed the story so far and what I've done with Horace so far. But yeah, whenever you manage to get a chance to review would be appreciated, but I understand that life keeps ya busy too.

Oh, fair warning to you all, things get a bit dark near the end of the first scene, so brace yourselves for it and don't say I didn't warn you.

**Credits:**

**Gin Prowler- WaterDragonMaverick**

"**Bandaged Man"- dreadburner94**

**Agni Amitabh- dreadburner94**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 17<strong>

Gunther ran towards the Nightmare, his arm outstretched as he cast his spell, "Rho Aias!" he screamed as a large, crystalline shield appeared in front of him, taking the brunt force of the explosion as the shield shattered as quickly as it appeared, "Is everyone alright?" the raven-haired man asked as he watched a fragment of his shield disappear from the arm it had embedded itself in, leaving a bloody gash.

"Brother!" Rowena shouted as she saw the blood trailing down his left arm, "Hold still," she ordered as she began healing his wound.

"We're fine!" Kiyeda called back as she cast another Prayer Circle.

"We've got to get down to Kieron! Or this'll never end!" Kaiyo yelled.

"That's good enough, Rowena," Gunther said quietly as he stood up, "You can use those wings to fly, right?"

"Huh? Yes!" Kiyeda answered quickly as she turned her attention back to the cliff.

"Then can you take your friend and Rowena down to the canyon floor?" Gunther asked as he walked past Kiyeda and Kaiyo to look down the cliff at the Nightmares.

"Yeah... but what are you going to do?"

"Hmph... Projection Mages specialize in one thing and one thing only," the man stated, "We project what is inside our Inner World to the outside world," he said as he lifted his right hand, reality flickering around it as he raised in front of his face, revealing images of a world of floating crystal, "So... I'm going to trap them all in my Inner World by projecting an entire facet of it into this world while you take on Kieron."

"What'll happen to you?" Kaiyo asked, worried for the older man's safety.

"I'll be trapped in there with the Nightmares," he answered quickly, "So I'm relying on you all to beat Kieron quickly," he added as he stepped off of the cliff, falling into the middle of the horde of Nightmares headfirst, "Go!" he screamed as Kiyeda quickly grabbed Kaiyo and Rowena before taking off, "Projection Magic... Reality Marble: Tower of Sacrificial Crystal!" Gunther shouted as the entire cliff side and the Nightmares disappeared from existence, only to be replaced with what seemed to be a large black sphere of energy.

"Brother," Rowena whispered sadly as Kiyeda flew past the sphere, "Please stay safe."

"Alright," Kiyeda grunted as she landed on the canyon floor, setting down her two passengers as she turned to face the lone Kieron, "Now that all your pets are out of the way we can really get this fight started!"

"Keh... I suppose that the only way for you to get to me was to sacrifice one of your own," Kieron said coldly as he stared at the three mages, "Really, that makes you no better than any of us!" the man laughed.

"No! Gunther is going to win!" Rowena screamed, "He did that for us! And for Agni!"

"Oh? Agni? You're after me because of him!?" the Dark Mage chuckled, "Maybe I should set up an appointment with him for you, but I have to warn you... he's perfectly satisfied with his new life."

"New life?" Rowena repeated, "Don't lie to me! We watched him get killed by those monsters!"

"Rowena... we don't have to listen to his lies right now," Kiyeda said calmly as she assumed a fighting stance.

"Yeah, we can listen to his bull after we break a few of his limbs," Kaiyo chuckled as he held out an arm, "Blade of Chivalry," the Raven Mage announced as a huge red and black blade appeared in his hands with a flurry of black feathers, "You ready, Ieda?"

"Now you call me by my nickname," Kiyeda sighed with a roll of her eyes, "Angel's Lunar Sword," the Angel Knight said quietly as a sword with a pure white blade and a hilt modeled after wings appeared in her hands, "Let's finish this quickly!" Kiyeda shouted as an excited look appearing on her face, the two mages charging towards Kieron.

"Wire Magic: Razor Wall!" the Dark Mage shouted with a wave of his arm, the wire beginning to move about rapidly, cutting the two mages off as he readied his next spell, "Split Strike!" he shouted as his wire quickly split into two wires as they attempted to run Kiyeda and Kaiyo through.

"Force!" the heard Rowena call out quickly, an invisible wall blocking the attack on them, "Go! I'll keep you two safe!"

"Got it!" Kiyeda shouted back as she and Kaiyo quickly jumped to the side before they resumed their charge, "Strike through!" she yelled as she and Kaiyo attempted to cut through their enemy, their attacks halted by the wires.

"You two are fast," Kieron chuckled as the wires around him held their swords in place, "But you're not quiet fast enough," he shouted as the wires suddenly came back to life, attempting to wrap around the two mages.

"Kiyeda!" Kaiyo shouted as the force around them barely kept the wires away, "Let's hit all at once! Raven Harmonics!" he screamed as four prayer beads appeared in his hand as he threw them towards Kieron.

"Prayer Circle!" Kiyeda announced just as the beads reach the Dark Mage, releasing a pillar of light intermingled with the pillar of darkness released from Raven Harmonics, the two mages hearing a scream of pain from their opponent, who had fallen to one knee during the attack.

"Shit!" Kieron cursed as he grasped the spot where his right arm used to be, having lost it in the last attack, "Am I really going to have to ask for help?" he hissed as he stood back up, "No... I can still win!" he screamed as he waved his left arm, moving the wire in a horizontal line across the canyon floor.

"Just give up!" Kiyeda yelled as she took off over the wire, planting a kick on Kieron's face, sending him rolling across the ground from the force of the blow.

"Did we get him?" Kaiyo pondered as they watched Kieron cautiously.

"I think so," Kiyeda responded as her wings and weapon vanished as the girl began walking over to the Dark Mage, only to see him begin convulsing on the ground, "What's happening? Hey! Get a hold of yourself!"

"M-Master... No! Please! Fo... Forgive me!" the man pleaded, his voice filled with desperation as his body continued to convulse, "No! NO! Stay away!" he screamed as he saw Kiyeda approach him, a look of insanity and horror on his face as he began scrambling away from her, "Don't you look at me! Don't you dare judge me!" he continued as he became more and more frenzied.

"Yeesh, what did you do to spook him so much?" Kaiyo asked as he walked up next to the shocked Kiyeda.

"What's happening to him?" the Angel Knight gasped, "There's something wrong!" she screamed as she ran over to Kieron's side.

"NO! I said stay away! I'd rather die than let you take me!" he screamed, far more frenzied than before.

"Please stop! Calm down please!" Rowena pleaded as she ran up to him.

"There's two of you?" Kieron gasped as a desperate smile mixed with insanity crossed his face, "You won't be taking me, you bastards," he whispered before he cut his own throat with his wire.

"NO! We can't let him die! We still need answers!" Rowena screamed as she began giving her best to heal him to no success.

"The hell just happened?" Kaiyo muttered in shock, "He killed himself."

"Was he... possessed by something?" Kiyeda mumbled, "He was asking for forgiveness from his master at the start of it all," she remembered as she turned her focus to Rowena.

"No..." the woman whispered as she realized that he couldn't keep the man from dying, "No..." she repeated as a loud noise sounded throughout the canyon as Gunther's spell ended, the man falling to the ground from the cliff side, surrounded by black goop, "Brother!" Rowena yelled as soon as she realized what had happened, "Are you all right?" she asked she ran over to him, seeing that he was unconscious and covered in horrible burns and wounds, his clothes and armor were torn to shreds and his shroud was wrapped around his left arm like a bandage, "Hold on brother!" she shouted as she began healing his wounds, the black sludge sinking into the ground around them and leaving no trace behind.

**. : + : .**

"Look out!" Rakki screamed as Light jumped to side of a large, stone fist that struck the ground where she was.

"You're going to have to be faster than that!" Light shouted as she leaped towards the head of the golem, "Light Dragon's Claw!" she yelled as she took off the head of the first golem with a light propelled kick as Haru ran past the falling golem.

"Gender Change: Male!" Haru announced as her body and voice changed into a male's, her hair becoming noticeably shorter as he quickly turned on his heels, "Green Wind: Scythe Wind!" he yelled as he formed the green wind into the shape of a scythe as he swung it through the body of the falling golem, cutting it in half.

"Look out!" Varic yelled as he slammed his hands into the ground, "Living Ice Magic: Ice Temple Pillar!" he shouted as ice burst through the ground behind Haru, blocking the strike of a golem, "White Dragon Blizzard!" he announced as he pulled his right arm from the ground, the head and neck of a dragon made of ice forming on it as he thrusted his arm towards the staggering golem, causing the dragon head to extend and fly towards the stone automaton, the dragon detonating in an explosion of jagged ice as it bit down on it's other arm.

"Thanks for covering me!" Haru shouted as he charged towards the crippled golem, "Razor Wind!" he yelled as he jumped into the air and spun around with his arms extended, shooting out a blade of wind with each rotation, chopping the stone giant to pieces as Light charged past, Rakki carrying her into the middle of the crowd of golems.

"Light Dragon's..." Light whispered as she took a deep breath, Rakki beginning to rotate in midair, "ROAR!" she screamed as she released a powerful blast of light in all directions as her Exceed partner spun around in the air, reducing several of the stone giants to rubble, "There's still more?" she panted as Rakki set her back down before landing on the Dragon Slayer's shoulder.

"Where did they all come from?" Rakki asked as she looked at the several golems still standing.

"I don't know and I don't really care at this point," Haru said as he ran up next to Light, "Think you could do that roar again?"

"No... there's no natural light in here, so I can't recharge enough magic for another roar. I'm at a huge disadvantage down here," Light admitted with a scowl.

"Then there's nothing to do but take them down one at a time," Varic said as he backed up to Haru and Light, not taking his eyes off of the golems behind them.

"They're coming!" Rakki shouted as the golems suddenly all charged in on the three mages.

"Gender Change: Female!" Haru shouted as he reverted back into her original female form, hopping over the fist of a golem and cleaving it in two with Scythe Wind.

"Light Dragon's Iron Fist!" Light shouted as she matched blows with a golem, Rakki flying above the crowd.

"Look out!" the Exceed screamed as she saw a second golem flank her, Light reacting to it only to find herself being pushed out of the way by Varic, his body shattering like ice as he was struck by the stone fist of the golem.

"That was a clone made out of ice... right?" Light gasped as she looked around, seeing no trace of Varic other than the lower half of his body laying on the ground, "Varic?" she whispered as her eyes looked down at what was left of her friend, "Varic!" she screamed as she ran over to where he laid, "Out of my way!" she yelled as she tore through the golem that had attacked her with Light Dragon's Claw, "Varic..." she whispered as she felt herself begin to tear up, "Why?" she asked as she realized that the scent of blood was not in the air, "There's no blood?" she gasped as she saw the ice laying about fly back to the lower half of Varic's body, slowly reforming it as he began to look more and more like he did until his upper body were completely reformed.

"Varic!" Haru yelled as she managed to finally get back to him and Light.

"Varic! What happened to you! Why'd you do something so stupid!" Light screamed as she glared at him, her tears spilling over.

"Heh heh... Sorry for worrying you," the Ice Mage laughed with a sad look on his face, "I'll explain it to you both later... We have a fight to finish," he stated as he stood up.

"Fine... But you better not do anymore stupid stunts or you'll wish the golems had killed you," Light threatened as she stood up and took her fighting stance again as Rakki landed back on her shoulder.

"Let's finish this in one go!" Haru yelled as the three mages stood back to back, facing all of the golems around them simultaneously.

"Got it!" Varic responded as he prepared his next spell, "Living Ice Magic: Grand Ice Temple Pillar!" he shouted as he slammed his hands into the ground, releasing a large amount of ice pillars as they tore through the golems.

"Light Dragon's Secret Art: Great Holy Chariot!" Light screamed as she released a flurry of rays of light from her hands that flew towards the golems in front of her, decimating them upon impact.

"Green Wind: Wind Blade Storm!" Haru announced as she let loose a tempest of green wind blades with a swing of her arms that shredded the enemies she faced into tiny pieces.

"Did we get them?" Light asked as she fell to one knee from exhaustion, tired from having to use a roar and one her secret arts without restoring her magic reserves first.

"You got them all Light," Rakki answered as she looked around for anymore golems.

"Then let's get out of here," Light suggested as she stood back up and began the walk back outside with her teammates.

**. : + : .**

Kyria charged in towards Horace, drawing her katana, a long reaching black katana with a sliver and red rose petal design on the blade with a red ribbon tied around the hilt that she called Ash Rose, from her sheath as she swung the sword horizontally through the S-Class Mage.

"Gas Manipulation: Gaseous Body," the scientist announced with his deranged smile on his face as he watched the sword pass through him harmlessly, "You should have studied your opponent better!" he said as he held out his arm, "Gas Generation: Ozone Smog!" he shouted as a dark, poisonous haze materialized around him, forcing Kyria to jump back as Horace commanded the haze to chase her.

"Lucky for me... I did do my homework," Kyria said smugly as she quickly spun around, "Ash Magic: Ash Cyclone!" she yelled as she swung her sword, releasing a cyclone of hot ash that forced the toxic fumes to raise higher into the air due to the heat, "Now... Ash Explosion!" Kyria announced with another swing of her sword, sending several small spheres of hot ash flying towards Horace.

Horace could only find his smile growing large, making him seem borderline insane as the spheres of hot ash began to explode around him, "Methane... Source," he whispered as the gas all around him and Kyria instantly ignited, resulting in a massive explosion that could be seen for miles, "My my... I'm quite thoroughly surprised that you're still alive," Horace chuckled as he saw Kyria's crumbling ash shield amidst the burning landscape, "If you had fought anyone else... you might have been able to win."

"Tsk... No point sticking around I suppose," Kyria muttered, now covered in burns, "But since you won... You'll find it in a research facility outside of Era in the care of the Rune Knights and the Magic Council. They found our anonymous gift to be... interesting," Kyria said as she began walking backwards.

"Find what exactly?" Horace asked, confused as to what the woman was speaking about.

"I'm sure that you'll find out soon," Kyria responded as she disappeared in a cloud of ash.

**. : + : .**

"Back off!" Styles yelled as he held off a mutated animal's jaws with his scythe, before shaking it off, unwilling to harm the animal.

"Heh... if you're so hesitant to harm one of my pets, then this'll be an easy mission," a confident man laughed before a disgusted look crossed his face, "What a disappointment."

The man stood at 5'7" with a muscular build, pale skin, and black, shaggy hair. His gray eyes had slits for pupils and he had claw marks over his eyes. The man wore a simple yellow t-shirt with blue jeans and brown combat boots, and he also held a brown, leather whip in his hands.

"They're not your pets!" Kimi shouted.

"Keh... Shows what you know girlie! Any and every beast on this continent belong to Gin Prowler!" the man announced as he cracked his whip, "Kill 'em boys!" he shouted as a myriad of mutated lizards, rodents, and beasts ran towards the two mages.

"Stop!" Caleb shouted as he ran out of the foliage, "Soothe!" he yelled as his hand glowed a vibrant yellow, calming the beasts and halting their charge.

"Who the hell?" Styles growled as he looked over at Caleb in shock.

"I'm a friend! Please hurry and finish this! I can't hold them forever!" the Healer shouted as he continued to calm the mutated animals.

"Looks like it ain't your lucky day, human," Styles chuckled darkly as he walked past the animals, scythe in hand as Gin tried to regain control of his beasts.

"No! Attack them! Rip them to shreds!" Gin shouted desperately as Styles continued his approach, Gin cracking his whip at Styles in desperation, only for him to cut the whip in half with his scythe.

"Blood Magic: Blood Curse!" Styles growled as he quickly grabbed a hold of Gin's head, forcing blood to shoot out of the man's body in several locations before he cut the man in half with his scythe.

"Styles," Kimi said softly as the blood covered man approached Caleb.

"What are you here for, human?" he asked the healer.

"My name is Caleb Pherl and my Guild Master sent myself and another man here to decide on the right course of action," Caleb answered.

"The right course of action?" Kimi repeated.

"The hell do you mean by that?" Styles asked in a coarse manner.

"I mean it just as I said. My Guild Master, Salina Velvet, told us to come here and decide what the right thing to do was. We decided that it was to help the two of you."

"So where's the other human then?"

"We split up when we came across an enemy, but I'm sure that he's just about finished with his fight now," Caleb replied as the sound of an explosion echoed throughout the East Forest, "Now then, Salina wishes to speak with you both back in Hargeon."

"No," Styles quickly answered, "We've got to find Nina and Mr. Voodoo," he said as a large, black wolf ran up to him from behind Caleb as Styles seemed to have a silent conversation with Nina, "Your enemies are the same as ours it seems. Fine, we'll go and see this Salina human, but you've got to help us find Mr. Voodoo in return. Got it human?"

"Of course," Caleb answered as they began looking for Horace.

**. : + : .**

"Master... Was it truly necessary to do that to Kieron?" a silver-haired man asked his master, who lay on the ground up against a tree.

The man who he called 'Master' was a strange man, who wrapped all of himself but his left eye in white bandages. He stood at 6'3" with a thin, but toned build and what seemed to be a light tan skin tone. The one visible, droopy eye was silver in color and held a look of boredom and disinterest in it as he flipped through the page of his book. The man wore a black coat lined with gold over his bandages with tattered, navy blue pants that were held up with two, large brown leather belts and were tucked into black boots that were once again lined with gold. Completing the man's outfit was a tattered, navy blue cloak that had a tall collar.

"Master?" the silver-haired man repeated, trying to get the disinterested man's attention.

"Hm?" the man hummed as he turned another page of his book, "Were you saying something, Agni?" he asked, having completely missed what the silver-haired man had said.

The silver-haired man, Agni, stood at 5'10" with a build much like his master's, but he had pale skin. His slanted, gray eyes were calm, but they held a look of contempt in them and his mouth was set in a small frown. His silver hair was kept in a spiky mess that fell all around his head, the spiky locks of hair falling over his right eye. The man wore a form fitting black shirt that had long-sleeves that even covered his hands and fingers. The front of the shirt had a thin, gold, wing-like motif on it that traveled across his sides with a gold sun motif sitting in the middle of the front of the shirt with small red diamond shapes surrounding it. Agni wore less form-fitting black pants that are tucked into pointed black boots that are adorned with gold shin guards and toe guards and he had matching gold armor protecting his thighs and forearms. Over the outfit, he wore a red cloak that had a tall collar that he left popped up and the cloak had three gold studs on the shoulders on both sides and he wore a brown leather strap crossing over the cloak that carried a large spear on it.

"I was wondering if it was truly wise to let Kieron die," he repeated.

"It was necessary," the man answered in a bored tone, "He had become a liability and much too... engrossed in himself."

"You keep a tight leash on all of your human pawns don't you?"

"They are at best expendable, they are useful spies and servents, but..." the man stated coldly as he closed his book, "They do not have the same resilience that you Nightmares possess."

"What of the Nightmares under Kieron's command?"

"Hmph... They will return to me as they always do, for they were never truly under his command. Why do you ask? Are you showing concern for Agni's friend and lover?" the man asked in a cold tone.

"No. I merely wish that I could gain a sense of closure. I am Agni... yet I am not Agni," the silver-haired being stated, "I never had the chance to kill him... So I desire to kill them both to prove my existence."

"Ah, so them learning what Kieron had to say would've allowed them to eventually find you. Rest assured, you will eventually have your opportunity," the man promised as he opened his book again, letting out a small chuckle as he read.

"Of course, Master."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **So there it is, just in the nick of time! Chapter 17! Day 3 of the 7 Day Challenge complete!

So a fair bit of trivia for those of you who read Kobold Mine. Agni's profile was originally made for this story for the particular role he has in it. But his original appearance wasn't going to be until much later in the story, but since I created Gunther and Rowena, I decided to bump it up quite a bit.

Also, this marks the end of this part! We will begin preparations for the final round of missions of this Story Arc next chapter! And then after that we move onto the Second Story Arc!

Please remember to review!

Your Host,

dreadburner94.


	22. A Rescue Mission in the Works

**A/N: **Happy Independence Day everyone else here in the U.S.! Day 4 of the 7 Day Challenge begins now! Chapter 18 is up for your reading pleasure!

Ugh... my arms feel like lead from moving yesterday... and I still have to unpack and arrange the furniture in my room without scratching the walls or anything since it's a brand new house. I actually just threw my mattress on the floor and slept on it without any sheets on it last night. I also smashed my fingers between a washing machine and a door frame, so that was fun.

I'd like to thank WaterDragonMaverick, WrittenWhim, ManhattanTheory, GhostOfOnyx, LightandDarkHeart, SaiyaStyles, and Hikari903278 for their reviews last chapter!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Yeah, we pretty much got all of the junk in the house... now we just have to unpack it... But yeah, the moment that I was told that we wouldn't have internet until Saturday I just completely panicked until I remembered the hotspot thingy in my phone that I found and then challenge saved. There's a whole lot more to Projection Magic than the Inner World of crystal, but that'll be further explained in Kobold Mine, after all, how could Gunther project swords and arrows from crystal? As for what happened with Kieron, his master the Bandaged Man happened. Yeah, the three of them are a pretty good team, but yeah, I'll just say that Varic's Ice Magic is really advanced, I'll let the chapter say the rest. But yeah, it seemed that Varic had died since his entire upper body was shattered into several little ice shards, so Light had been pretty upset, and they'll just have to hope that Jayne doesn't catch wind of that. Time was my enemy with Horace and Caleb's scenes, I had a literal 30 minutes to figure out what I wanted to write so those scenes unfortunately came out as really short, there was originally going to be mention of a killer rabbit, but alas he had to be cut, like Gin (that was a terrible pun), but the fact that Caleb could cancel out his magic just completely screwed him over. Well the Bandaged Man did say what Agni was, but just remember that this is actually the original Agni that I made.

**WrittenWhim- **I did say that it was going to be dark (Kieron's original death had him biting off his own tongue, but I decided that it was a bit too much), but yeah, I've accomplished my task of establishing some of the major villains of the story so far, but there's still just one more thing that needs to be done. And ironically MyDearWatson and I introduced the exact same character on the same day in a very similar manner without even planning for it, being the Bandaged Man.

**ManhattanTheory- **Unfortunately, we have a bit of a drop off in the action for a day or two. Gotta setup and start the final round of the missions this arc after all, but we do have a short little fight in this chapter. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!

**GhostOfOnyx- **Yeah, I honestly wish I had more time to write out that fight to do them more justice (same with the Horace vs. Kyria fight), but when I have a time restriction of 24 hours to write a chapter, time gets kinda tight when you have a lot going on. But anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart- **You'll learn more about exactly what the Agni of this story is at a later date, but the Bandaged Man has already said what he is. I do have to admit that it's rather exciting for me to have a character who's a good guy in one story, but a villain in the other one.

**SaiyaStyles- **Yeah, I wish I had more time to let Styles play around with Gin too, but alas, when you're moving and you need most of the day to write a chapter some scenes have to be shortened and Caleb's and Horace's scenes were the last ones I wrote so they were the ones that got shortened since all the other scenes were already finished. And yeah, for the past two nights it seems like Fanfiction just stops sending notifications to me from midnight to about 7 in the morning. I didn't get the notification that my chapter had been posted until 7 and I posted it just before midnight. But I hope you feel better soon! Stomach flues are the worst.

**Hikari903278- **It's fine, but I do understand your situation from my own past experiences, I'm just a bit high-strung when it comes to it. Ayways, I find it strange that you can't log into Fanfiction from your iTouch, I've always been able to log in from my old one and my phone, but Fanfiction has been weird lately (see above response). But anyways, I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the chapter and I don't think anyone really expected for that to happen to Kieron. And I've actually been waiting for a little while to bring up that bit about Varic, but you'll learn some about that this chapter. And yeah, I made that Secret Art all on my own for Light while keeping her spells separate from the White Dragon Slayer's, so I'm glad that you liked it. I guess it was my way of apologizing. But yeah, Horace is an S-Class mage for a reason, so despite how short I had to make it, I at least made it an interesting fight where he could show off.

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 18<strong>

"Are you sure that he'll be alright?" Kiyeda asked about Gunther after the two mages got their reward for dealing with Kieron.

"Yeah... but he'll be disappointed to hear what happened," Rowena admitted, "This was the closest we've ever gotten and if what Kieron said is true... Then Agni is still alive..." she muttered as she felt herself begin to tear up.

"Well I hope that you find him soon," Kaiyo said as he gave the woman a bright smile and a thumbs-up.

"Mm-hmm. If you ever need any help, just come ask us over at Undine's Cove. Salina would be more than happy to help you both," Kiyeda promised.

"Yes... Of course," Rowena sniffed as she wiped away her tears, "I promise that if we need help that we'll come find you all."

"We're off then!" Kaiyo explained as he turned around to leave.

"We'll see you both again!" Kiyeda promised as she followed Kaiyo, "Take care!" she said as they began walking away, Rowena waving to them as they left.

"So... What's your take on all of those monsters?" Kaiyo asked in a serious tone as they walked towards the train station in Clover.

"They were strong... I don't think we would've won by ourselves," Kiyeda admitted in a serious tone, 'We'll have to tell Salina about this... but she's already stressed over this Euclid person' she thought as her expression looked even more serious.

"You think so too?" Kaiyo asked, "Yeah, we really lucked out by meeting Gunther and Rowena beforehand."

"Hm? Oh, yeah," Kiyeda muttered as she came out of her thoughts.

"C'mon, get your head out of the clouds! Not like you've ever been able to get past them before," the Raven Mage teased as he ran ahead.

"Kaiyo! Get back here!" Kiyeda shouted as she ran after her friend.

**. : + : .**

"That's better," Light sighed as she finished her meal of light outside of the mine, "Now come on you!" she shouted as she grabbed the back of Varic's shirt and began dragging him behind her.

"L-Light!" he shrieked, "Haru! Help!"

"I think you brought this on yourself Varic," Haru shrugged as she followed behind them, Rakki riding on her shoulder, "Now don't you think that you should be explaining yourself to her?"

"Urk..." the Ice Mage gulped as he looked over his shoulder, only to see Light glaring at him, "Alright! Alright! Fine! Just put me down first!" he demanded as Light let go of the back of his sleeveless black shirt, letting him fall against the cobblestone street, "Owowowow... You're still angry aren't you?" he asked as he looked up at Light from his position on the street, only to see a look on her face that said 'Stop wasting time and start talking!' Varic let out a sigh as he stood up, "I'll tell you the whole story some other time, but the long and short of it is that I'm made out of ice."

"Made... out of ice?" Light repeated in shock, "What do you mean by that!?"

"Exactly that. About five years ago my body was transformed into ice and I gained Living Ice Magic," he explained.

"But how did that happen?" Haru asked, a look of shock on her face as well.

"Like I said, I'll tell you the whole story some other time," Varic shrugged, "Besides, don't we have a reward to pick up?"

"How are we going to split the reward?" Haru asked suddenly, "Three ways even?"

"No, I'm going to need more than you two since I also have to take care of Rakki," Light shrugged.

"Hold on a moment! I'm one that got smashed saving your ass!" Varic interjected, "So my part should be the largest."

"Yeah right! I took out the most golems! Mine and Rakki's part should be the biggest!" Light countered as she got in the ice man's face.

"And here I thought things were going too smoothly with our teamwork," Haru sighed as her two friends continued their argument.

"I had a feeling that something like this would happen," Rakki added as her ears drooped forward, "We're all used to getting the full sum of the reward."

"Well I guess I'll just go ahead and take what I want from the reward," Haru sighed as she walked past the two arguing mages with Rakki towards Dragomir Keep, Varic and Light not noticing her walking past.

**. : + : .**

"So that's what we have to do for them," Caleb said as he finished explaining the situation to Horace on the train, Styles and Kimi sitting across from them as Nina sat on the luggage rack above them, watching the two Undine's Cove mages carefully.

"We have to find Mr. Voodoo then?" Horace repeated, receiving a positive nod from Caleb, "Hmm... I think I might have an idea."

"What? You think you know where he is!" Styles asked in a harsh tone, Kimi putting her hand on his shoulder in an effort to calm him.

"Yes... and unfortunately it isn't a place that we can just barge into since it would make us enemies of the whole country," Horace explained as Styles looked away with a "Tsk".

"So you think the Magic Council has Mr. Voodoo then?" Caleb asked.

"It is the only lead that I have so far. I didn't know what that woman meant at first, but she told me that I would find something at a magic research facility outside of Era."

"If you know where he is then we should go right now!" Styles shouted.

"No. The information is unreliable at best since we can't trust the source. It could very well be a trap," the S-Class Mage responded calmly as he looked out the window.

"But who knows what they're doing to Mr. Voodoo," Kimi said in a worried tone.

"Don't worry. I'm certain that Salina will know just what to do," Caleb stated reassuringly as he pushed up his glasses.

**. : + : .**

"And there you go!" Salina said happily as she pulled back the magic stamp, leaving a red and black guild mark on the center of Jewul's spine, "You've already gotten a tour of the dorm right?"

"Yeah, Malon and Willow showed me the girl's dorm," Jewul responded, "Jace, Rave, and Fareth had to stay outside or face the penalty of death."

"Good to hear!" Salina said cheerfully, "Oh, how are your injuries? I didn't mean to use as much power as I did, but I get carried away at times," the Weather Mage admitted bashfully.

"Oh? I'm fine, just a little twitchy," Jewul answered cautiously as she backed away from Salina.

"You're lucky you didn't die!" Malon said cheerfully as she jumped on top of Jewul from behind, making her fall to the ground while Will floated around them making cooing noises, "Not many get the privilege of surviving an encounter with the Dark Skies," the Phantom Mage whispered darkly into Jewul's ear, "Most people end up as ash wraiths."

"Malon... Stop spreading rumors about me," Salina whined as the young girl hopped off of Jewul with a large smile on her face as Jezabelle, Jayne, and Roseala walked down the stairs, mission form in hand, "Oh, are you going on a mission?"

"Yep, Jayne just wouldn't leave me alone until I took them on one," the S-Class Mage laughed as she handed Salina the request form.

"You promised that you would! And you were away from the guild for like, forever," Jayne mumbled as Roseala hid next to Jayne, seeing the unfamiliar Jewul get up from the ground.

"Treasure hunting in the desert?" Salina asked as she pulled out the request book and flipped to the page before writing down the necessary info.

"Yeah, I figured that I needed to choose something fun and some-what relaxing for them," Jezabelle answered, "What? Did you expect me to take them on a monster hunt or something?"

"Well-" Salina started to say as she was interrupted by yelling from the beach.

"RAYNER!"

"AJAX!" they heard, guessing the source of the shouting to be Rayner and Ajax starting another fight.

"I knew it'd only be a matter of time till this happened," Salina sighed as she left the bar area to supervise the fight.

"Glass Dragon's Punch!" Ajax roared as he sent a glass covered fist towards Rayner, only to have it be intercepted by Rayner's Mjolnir, "Tsk... That's a new one," Ajax muttered as he leapt backwards.

"Swords and spears don't exactly work well against you," Rayner explained with a smirk on his face, "So what's better to smash your scales than a hammer?"

"Don't get cocky you!" Ajax yelled as he ran back in, "Glass Dragon's Shattering Storm!" he shouted as he leapt into the air, sending several shards of glass flying down at Rayner as the shards shattered into hundreds of even tinier shards.

"Aegis!" Rayner shouted, his magic shield materializing above him just in time to block the glass.

"Too slow!" the Dragon Slayer shouted as he landed behind the Forge Mage, "Glass Dragon's Punch!" he yelled as he planted a glass covered fist into Rayner's back, sending him flying across the beach.

"Alright that's enough!" Salina shouted, stopping the two mage's fight as they turned to look at her.

"But I would've gotten him with my next move!" Rayner objected as he stood up, covered in sand.

"Says the guy that was face down in the dirt until now!" Ajax countered.

"Say that again!"

"I said that's enough!" Salina said in a sickingly sweet tone as they heard thunder crack in the distance, "Now make up you two, you're both good friends after all."

"Yep! Best of friends!" they both shouted simultaneously, their arms on each other's shoulders as they were suddenly standing next to each other with forced smiles on their faces.

"A-Aye!" Rayner added in, obviously scared out of his mind at the thought of an angry Salina.

"Good!" Salina said happily as she turned around to walk back to the main building.

'S-scary,' Jewul thought to herself as she watched Salina return.

**. : + : .**

Arashi walked into the train station, about to depart on his task. He had already gotten Salina's permission to go, but he had to promise that he wouldn't get in over his head since what he was about to do was dangerous and reckless. But he had to see if they knew anything about this Euclid person that Salina asked him and the other S-Class Mages to investigate. It didn't make him happy that he had to find and ask those people for help, but who would know the Magic Underworld better than a Dark Mage?

"I just hope that they're in a cooperative mood," Arashi muttered as he stepped onto the train, "I suppose that I could just bribe one of them with ice cream if they're not up for talking," he chuckled as the door of the train shut behind him as the locomotive began it's departure.

**. : + : .**

"So how'd it go?" Euclid asked as he stood next to his chess board, placing three white pieces on the board to replace the one white knight he had placed on the black team.

"Undine's Cove acted just as you thought they would," Kyria answered, now covered in bandages while her burns healed.

"Heh... Miss Velvet seems to be pretty easy to read then," the Info Broker chuckled as he placed a third team on the board comprising of a handful of dark wood chess pieces, "Now I wonder what that man's next move will be? And when it'll be?"

"You do realize that you're only making him stronger by going along with his demands, right?" Kyria asked as she looked over at Aurora, who was wearing the necklace provided by the bandaged man.

"Sometimes you have to go along with someone's scheme when you want to learn their plans," Euclid responded as he set two new dark wood pieces with the third team, "I'll learn what he's scheming sooner or later."

"If you're certain," the Ash Mage shrugged as she examined the chess board, 'Just what kind of game of chess is that anyways?' she asked herself before leaving the room.

**. : + : .**

"So you are Styles Kaizu then?" Salina asked as she looked the man up and down.

"What of it?" he replied harshly.

"My name is Salina Velvet, First Guild Master of Undine's Cove," she said in introduction, "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Whatever, I just came because those two said that you would help get Mr. Voodoo back for Kimi," Styles stated as he gestured towards Kimi.

"I believe that Mr. Voodoo can be found in a research facility outside of Era," Horace explained.

"That's a problem..." Salina mumbled, "But I think that I know the perfect man for the job," the woman said confidently, confusing Caleb and Horace.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Well there it is! Albeit a much shorter chapter than the last one, but Day 4 of the 7 Day Challenge, Chapter 18, is complete! Next time we'll be seeing Team Jez and Arashi begin their missions, as well as one other person. Hmm... who could it be? Props to anyone who can guess who is taking the mission to find Mr. Voodoo! Also, despite the chapter's shortness, I feel like quite a bit happened this chapter.

Anywho, the last round of missions for this arc start tomorrow! So if all goes well, we'll have finished this Story Arc by the 7th!

Well, I'm off to arrange the furniture in my room.

Please remember to review!

Your Host,

dreadburner94.


	23. Grimoire Heart

**A/N: **Okay, Day 5 of the 7 Day challenge begins now! Chapter 19 is here for your reading pleasure!

Okay, as you all might have noticed, I closed the OC Submissions a few days ago, so I'd like to thank GhostOfOnyx, Ice92, Rinnto, ManhattanTheory, Maebara18, The Baz, and Paperman0 for sending in the new OCs! I'll begin introducing them after the X790 GMG's in two Story Arcs. Which reminds me, a while back I asked about events for the GMG's, so if anyone as any ideas for any events, feel free to send them into me via PM!

I'd like to thank SaiyaStyles, Master of Anime224, GhostOfOnyx, Hikari903278, WaterDragonMaverick, potentialauthor18, MyDearWatson, Stormhawk99, and FrozenBlast13 for their reviews last chapter!

**SaiyaStyles- **Yeah, live experimentations can be pretty sickening, as for what all is in the facility, you'll have to wait to find out. But yeah, Varic's Living Ice Magic was pretty original as far as I know. I was actually living in an apartment for a month or two before the move, so it's good to be out of that stuffy little apartment, stuff kept breaking and falling apart on their own.

**Master of Anime224- **Honestly, you could go back and figure out who it is by process of elimination, but yeah, there are quite a few characters running about. And yeah, Chapter 17 was posted literally a few minutes before midnight where I live, just in time for me to still be... well on time, so Chapter 17 and 18 were posted really close together. And yeah, the last chapter was more or less the standard set up chapter, but as the rest were, it was necessary, but there were a few interesting conversations going on. And I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the fights of Chapter 17! As well as the bit of mystery shown in it as well!

**GhostOfOnyx- **Yeah, Rakki just kind of snuck off with Haru to take what she wanted to from the reward, even left Light behind to boot. And yeah, at this point Kimi is really the only person that can keep Styles calm. And I really want to write a whole fight between Ajax and Rayner right now, but it unfortunately has to wait and yeah, Salina's up to something of the not quite legal variety with this mission to rescue Mr. Voodoo.

**Hikari903278- **Like I said, I had posted the chapter just a bit before midnight, although I didn't get an email telling me that I did until 7 the next morning, so yeah, Fanfiction's just acting downright buggy lately. But yeah, Light seems to have personality traits of all three of them. And yeah, Horace and Caleb's mission more or less ended well since they managed to convince Styles to come to the guild, but now Mr. Voodoo needs to be rescued.

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Yep! Sean and Jean are off to save Mr. Voodoo, the allegedly weakest members of the guild who only take the easiest of missions, but more on that later. And yeah, Varic is a living chunk of ice right now, so he has a very special form of Ice Magic. And yeah... more on why not even the male Exceeds aren't allowed in the girl's dorm in the future. But yeah, that impression is what I was aiming for, with Salina being Erza and Ajax and Rayner taking the places of Gray and Natsu. And I'll give you a hint on who all Arashi is going to see: One of their members was introduced while a member was eating ice cream.

**potentialauthor18- **Yep, you guessed it, Agni isn't human in the slightest in this story, he's exactly what the Bandaged Man said he was, a Nightmare. And as such, he's a completely different being than the Agni of Kobold Mine. And yeah, although Varic and Light both brought up good points in their argument, Haru's the one taking the initiative by going ahead without them. And yep, Arashi's heading off on what would be considered an S-Class Mission, although it's more of a task than a mission since he's not getting paid for this. And yeah, even though Euclid will work with the Bandaged Man, he's still wary of him since not even he knows what that man is planning. And MyDearWatson and I literally introduced the same character, on the same day, in very similar manners, without even planning to. I had already written that scene before the latest Thunder Stone chapter was posted, and we apparently both introduced him on a whim too, so we didn't even plan that or anything. And given the nature of the character who is going on the mission, no one in the guild would really have much of a clue since most of his missions involve cooking over at 8-Island.

**MyDearWatson- **Okay, Chapter 17 response first. Yeah I really wish that I could've shown what Gunther's fight was like in the Marble, but in the end I decided that since he's a side character in this that he would take too much away from the characters that are more important in this story, so the complete workings of his magic will be revealed in Kobold Mine. And hmm... if I had to choose one of those names, I'd go with KaiEda, since it does sound like Kiyeda and it's actually how you pronounce her name, Kai-Ee-Duh. But yeah, like Team Hughes, Kiyeda and Kaiyo have some of the best teamwork in the guild and even though Kaiyo isn't S-Class like Kiyeda, he's still one of the strongest A-Class Mages in the guild, given the fact that he and Kiyeda often go on S-Rank missions together. And yeah, that man has to have some sort of hold on his human subordinates in case of emergency, so he drove him insane with his magic (the term I originally used before I made it more cryptic was that he broke Kieron's psyche). Also, I'm glad that you liked Team Light's fight scene and as you noticed, I did indeed address Varic's body of ice if only a bit, so I didn't keep you waiting that long since he did say that he would explain what happened to Light and Haru. And yep, Horace's magic is rather fitting for him and if you ask me, it's up in the air between him and Jezabelle who the strongest S-Class Mage is. And yeah, earlier the same day you posted the last Thunder Stone chapter, I had written the first scene and then on a whim I skipped to the last scene and introduced the Bandaged Man and Agni and then I had to do move a whole bunch of stuff for a large portion of the day and then I went about writing the chapter as usual, and then when I sat down to eat at a restaurant and I got the email that the latest chapter was up, so of course I read it and then when I got to that scene I realized that it was very similar to the scene that I had written earlier that day, but I knew that no one had seen it since I hadn't posted the chapter yet. So yeah, we were definitely on the same wave-length. But hey, if anyone has any complaints they should know that we're in cahoots and all that. Okay! Now for Chapter 18's response. Yeah, Gunther got hurt pretty badly in his fight with the Nightmares, I'm honestly thinking of doing a small omake that shows how Gunther's fight went inside of the Marble. And yep, you're going to have to wait for Varic's eventual Historical Omake for the full story on how he came to be made of ice. Yep, I figured that it's been a while since we've seen Ajax, so I decided to have him duke it out with Rayner since they could take advantage of Caleb's absence (although he arrived at the guild not long after the fight ended), but yeah there were two references in that scene. The first being Rayner, Ajax, and Salina imitating Natsu, Gray, and Erza and the second reference is actually about Salina and her mother Ume, with Jewul being a young Salina of sorts in the scene and Salina being her mother, so it slightly resembles a scene in Salina's Historical Omake. And I'll give you the same hint, when one of the people that Arashi is going to go see was introduced in Fairy Tail, he was eating ice cream, so if you know your Fairy Tail villains, you should have an idea. And I'm happy to hear that you enjoy seeing Euclid talk, he does seem to do that a lot, I think he may actually be the character that's talked the most so far, if not him then it's Salina. And yep, the process of elimination was key in figuring out who was taking the mission, Sean and Jean are heading out to save Mr. Voodoo. PHEW! Long response...

**Stormhawk99- **Yep, a lot of things in the future, distant, very distant, and near, are being set up right now, so scream "COOL!" all you want!

**FrozenBlast13- **Yup, the original profile of Agni has him as evil, but there's a backstory there as there is with any character. And as a vague answer to the second thing: Very.

**Credits:**

**Solvieg the Fox- Falling Lanterns**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 19<strong>

"I really don't get how that skinny human is going to get back Mr. Voodoo with no one but that cat," Styles grumbled as he watched the rain outside, he and Kimi had spent over a day waiting at the guildhall and his patience was running thin.

"Who? Sean and Jean?" Salina asked from behind the bar, "They'll be fine," she said as she continued to polish the glass in her hands.

"I doubt it," the Blood Mage muttered as Nina stood up and put her paws on the bar, grabbing one of the pieces of meat brought from 8-Island with her mouth.

"Don't you think we should at least have a little faith in them?" Kimi asked, "They did promise to help and they had no reason to."

"Tch... Fine, we'll let that human try his luck," Styles growled as he pet Nina, "But I don't expect him to succeed."

"That's fine then," Salina stated as she put the glass up, "Now, I have to head to the Fiore Branch of the Magic Council," she said as she picked up her light blue umbrella.

"What for?" Kimi asked.

"To get Styles' bounty cleared up," Salina answered as she left the bar area, shocking the Kaizu's, "I'll be back in a day or so if all goes well, so don't leave the cove."

**. : + : .**

"So what's the treasure we're looking for out here?" a giddy Jayne asked as they drove through the desert in a magic vehicle.

"Oh you know, the usual things," Jezabelle answered as she drove the vehicle over a sand dune, "Piles of gold, jewels, magic relics, etcetera. We can take up to twenty-five percent of what we find as well, so it's well worth the trip out into the desert."

"Will there be any monsters?" Roseala asked nervously, Dante the Lion sitting next to her, as Jezabelle began driving up a particularly large sand dune.

"If there are any, not one will reach you!" Dante declared as the magic vehicle flew off of the sand dune, using it as a ramp.

"Eek!" the Fable Summoner shrieked as Jezabelle and Jayne laughed.

"Sorry," Jezabelle sighed as she continued to drive through the desert, "But we won't encounter any monsters as long as we're above ground in the daytime. So we're going into the ruins at night."

"Wait. Wouldn't that mean that the monsters are awake when we go in?" a confused Jayne asked.

"Yep, but most of them will have gone above ground to hunt," the S-Class Mage explained, "So there'll be less monsters in the ruins at night."

"I see," a more enlightened Jayne said, "I guess you have to be smart to be an S-Class Mage after all."

"Yeah! You're really smart Jez!" Roseala added in happily as Dante sat and nodded next to her.

"Aw please, there are smarter people in the guild than me," Jezabelle said bashfully as an embarrassed blush came onto her face.

"Hm... Maybe Caleb, Horace, and Master Velvet?" Roseala pondered, "And Ieda and Camille are pretty smart too."

"Yeah! And when you compare her to the other S-Class Mages you've got dark and quiet Arashi, and I guess he might be smart. But then you've got the playboy Alistar," Jayne added in a deadpan tone.

"Did someone say Alistar?" a busty and curvy girl with a red fox tail and fox ears asked as she materialized into the seat next to Jayne, "I think he's rather charming actually," the fox woman said in a seductive tone.

The fox woman, named Solvieg the Fox, was one of Roseala's summons. In addition to her red fox tail and fox ears, she also had red hair, tiny fangs, and bright blue eyes. She wore a skimpy, red faux fur top and miniskirt and she also wore high heeled boots that were lined with red fur.

"Of course you find him attractive, Solvieg," Dante stated, "He's male and that's as picky as your standards go. You don't even care if they're underage."

"Ah, the sounds of jealousy. Of course they'd come from a romantically dense person such as yourself," the fox woman said in a playful tone.

"Speak for yourself!" the lion man countered.

"Please, that's enough fighting you two," Roseala pleaded.

"Of course," Dante said quickly.

"Okay, I'll stop teasing the poor man," Solvieg conceded before looking over at Jayne, who was now writing something down on a piece of paper, "Oh? More smutty fanfics?" she asked in an excited tone upon seeing Jayne's work.

"Mm-hmm! Although it's just a list right now," Jayne said happily as she showed the fox woman the paper, having always gotten along with her due to their similar interests.

"Oh? A list of pairings for your guild mates!?" Solvieg cheered happily as she began to read through them, "Hm... RayMille, RayMiri your OTP as you've told me before, KaiEda, YuuDon, and..."

"Hm? Something wrong?" Jayne asked as she saw Solvieg get a scary look on her face as she started laughing.

"Solvieg?" Roseala mumbled in a scared tone.

"Smrk... N-nothing, I've just gotta tell Venus about these two... she'll go nuts!" the fox woman snickered as she vanished.

'I'm not sure that I want to know,' Jezabelle thought to herself as she continued driving through the desert.

**. : + : .**

Sean stood behind a bar in Era, dressed in the typical bartender outfit as he passed the time with the small job, 'I wonder how much intel Jean has gathered,' the Lightning Mage thought to himself as two figures entered the bar, "Welcome," he greeted as he looked over at the two people, watching them find their seat at the bar before taking their orders, serving them in a silent manner as the two men began to talk.

"Did you see that thing they brought in today?" the middle-aged man asked.

"You mean that doll?" the man's younger compatriot said, "Yeah, apparently it has some sort of magic on it but it hasn't really done anything so far."

"Yeah. Who even sent that thing in anyways?"

"Dunno... All the note said was that it was from a friend, but Head Researcher Wymond seemed to react to it anyways. I think it might be one his rumored contacts from before he was hired as Head Researcher."

"Oh? Did he say anything?"

"Nah, he just smiled and then told us where to put it for now. It's sitting back in a secure storage area under the facility."

'Loose lips sink ships as they say,' Sean thought to himself as the bartender for the next shift came in, "All yours," Sean sighed as he left the bar through the back entrance, seeing Jean waiting for him in the alley, "Learn anything?"

"Nope. No one would talk so I mapped out the facility from above instead," the Exceed said happily as he handed Sean his hand-drawn map after he had put on his long, black hooded coat and fastened his dual swords to his belt, "Did you learn anything?"

"They're keeping the doll in a secure storage facility beneath the compound," Sean responded as he pulled a white mask out of his coat pocket, "And from what I've heard they haven't done anything to the doll yet."

"Well then we should hurry and retrieve the doll unharmed!" Jean announced, "And maybe I'll get a big, tight hug from that girl as a reward," the Exceed added with a perverted look and laugh.

"Just hurry up and take me there," Sean muttered while giving his partner a flat stare before he put on the white mask, which completely covered his face.

"Roger!" Jean chirped happily as he flew behind Sean, picking him up before taking off into the sky.

**. : + : .**

Arashi was completely surrounded. Everywhere he looked a Dark Mage was ready to attack him at a moments notice. The S-Class Mage had succeeded in his task of finding the Dark Guild, the remnants of Grimoire Heart, but as he expected, the newer members of the crumbling branch of the Balam Alliance were less than happy to see him, a legal mage.

"Where are they?" Arashi demanded, "Where's Rustyrose and Kain?"

"We ain't got anything to say to a damned traitor like you!" a Dark Mage shouted as he and several others charged at Arashi.

"Tsk... Aether Magic: Crimson Laceration!" he announced as red blades of energy appeared on his forearms as he began fending off the attacks, side-stepping, dodging, weaving, and cutting through the crowd with a flurry of punches, "Where are they!?" he demanded again until he heard a noise from above.

"Wwwooooooo! Weeeeee!" a large man with chalk colored skin roared as he fell from above, nearly crushing Arashi as he landed face-first on the hard ground, leaving an impression of the man in the ground.

"Please Kain, have some grace when appearing before the Undine in this pit of hell," a man in glasses sighed as he descended a flight of nearby stairs.

"S-SorryRusty!" the large man stuttered out quickly as he got back up, completely uninjured from his fall.

"Kain... Rusty," Arashi muttered as he stared down the two men.

"A-Arashi!?" Kain exclaimed, "W-w-w-w-WhatAreYouDoingHere!"

"I want information," he answered.

"Ah, so the Undine has decided to fall back into his darkness to understand it then?" Rustyrose asked, a certain elegance to his posture and gestures.

"No," Arashi growled, "I won't ever fall back into it again, but if I can learn what I need to by staring into it..."

"A dangerous game," the silver-haired man smirked, "What is it you hope to scry by staring into this pit of hell?"

"Euclid," Arashi answered quickly, "I want to know everything there is to know about him."

"Th-That Information Broker?" Kain asked, having calmed down a bit from his initial shock.

"So the Undines wage war with that puppeteer then?" Rustyrose added, only to receive a nod in response from Arashi, "Then I'm afraid that we know just as little about him than you do."

"Then you don't have any information for me then?" Arashi frowned.

"Exactly so," the Dark Mage smirked as he raised his arms, "But the puppeteer said he would pay well for your capture when he told us of your impending arrival. Arc of Embodiment! Tower of Dingir!" he shouted with a sinister smile as a tall, demonic tower erupted around Arashi, carrying him up into the air and bursting through the ceiling.

**. : + : .**

"And that should do it," Caleb said as he finished healing Yune's arm after she finally made her way to the infirmary after waking up.

"Thank you, Dr. Pherl," the young girl said quietly, still thinking about the last conversation she had with Ladon.

"Is there something else wrong?" Caleb asked, seeing the troubled look on the girl's face.

"Yes! Er... No! It's nothing really!," Yune shouted, a heavy blush on her face.

"Ah, I see," the healer said quietly as a soft smile crossed his face, "You have a crush on someone don't you?"

"Eh!? Wh-wh-what makes you think that?" Yune asked as she played with her hair and looked away from the older man, the blush on her face growing redder.

"Nothing in particular," Caleb smiled again as he placed his hand on Yune's shoulder, "But if I'm right then I think that you should try and pursue the relationship and if he returns your feelings, then you should make sure to cherish them."

"B-but I don't think he would," the girl said quietly, quickly growing depressed at the thought of things going bad, "He's really strong and he doesn't like to deal with people all that much and-" she added as Caleb cut her off.

"But don't you think that you would regret it if you didn't try at all?"

"Y-yes," she replied quietly, "Thank you."

"Anytime. And if things don't work out, just come get me and I'll take care of the guy for you," he added as he pushed up his glasses, catching a glare of light across them.

"Y-yes," Yune repeated as a thought crossed her mind, "If you don't mind me saying so, but you reminded me of a father just now."

"A... A father?" Caleb whispered, a sad and weary look crossing his face that Yune had never seen on him before.

"Oh! Did I offend you? My apologies!" Yune said quickly as she stood up from the hospital bed and bowed deeply.

"N-no... You didn't offend me," Caleb said quietly, "You made me rather happy actually," he added as he forced a smile.

"But you seem rather sad as well," Yuuna muttered.

"Sorry," Caleb apologized, "But I am happy."

"Well... I won't ask about why. I know that there are some things that I wouldn't want people asking about as well," Yune said quietly, "Good day, Doctor," she added with a curtsy before she turned to leave the infirmary.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there it is! Day 5 of the 7 Day Challenge is complete! I hope you enjoyed it!

Lots of things starting up this chapter it seems. Salina leaving to see the Magic Council, Team Jez is on their way to begin the treasure hunt (what could go wrong?), Sean and Jean are about to begin their infiltration, Arashi is facing off with the remnants of Grimoire Heart (and things ain't looking good so far for him), and is there something romantic starting as well? :3 Well, we'll see how all of this goes tomorrow!

Please remember to leave a review!

Your Host,

dreadburner94.


	24. Enter Crime Sorcière!

**A/N: **Day 6 starting now! Whew... nearly... there... just... one... more... day...

This chapter... I felt like I had to force my way through so much... I think I'm reaching my limit of how many days I can go in a row...

Okay! I'd like to thank ManhattanTheory, SaiyaStyles, WaterDragonMaverick, MyDearWatson, QueenKazza, GhostOfOnyx, Hikari903278, LightandDarkHeart, Reitzel-chan, and potentialauthor18 for their reviews last chapter!

**ManhattanTheory- **Yeah, Arc of Embodiment is one of the most OP magics in Fairy Tail, but when you're Mashima, you can give anyone magic like that.

**SaiyaStyles- **Heh, now that I think about it, yeah, Dr. Pherl does sound like Dr. Phil. And yeah, even though humanity claims to know a whole lot, there's still even more to learn. But hey, at least Jean is motivated to do his best, so you gotta give the little pervert that much credit. And yeah, Salina's picked up some shrewd political skills from someone in her past, but more on that in the future, or should I say past?

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Yeah, Jayne has been friends with Roseala's summons pretty much as soon as she met them and yeah, VariKari would be a ship that Jayne would try to sail as soon as she learned about it. And there's quite a bit to learn about Sean and Jean, and like I said, at least the little pervert is motivated. Yeah, there's a lot to learn about Arashi's past, but I'll let the story speak for itself and yeah, Rustyrose is very symbolic and poetic in his speech, so I figured that "puppeteer" was a very fitting way for him to refer to Euclid. Now how exactly will Arashi escape from the Tower of Dingir? Hmm... Anyways, you'll just have to wait for the full rundown of Caleb's history.

**MyDearWatson- **Maybe... possibly... there is hope that it might happen. And who knows, maybe something will happen in the ruins. As for those last two pairings that Solvieg saw... you'll just have to wait. Kain Hikaru was the character that was eating ice cream if you still don't remember, but yeah, Arashi has a pretty interesting past and he's in a downright pickle since he's caught in the Tower of Dingir. And yep! As Yune is a romantic at heart, she's the first character to have a noticeable crush on somebody, being Ladon. And yeah, I explored another side of Caleb's personality last chapter and that whole scene was honestly on a complete whim if I'm honest (it was either that or more Euclid, but I decided to give the poor broker a break for once).

**QueenKazza- **I'm happy to hear that you're pleased with how Jayne was portrayed last chapter! Hopefully I'll continue to do as well, if not better, this chapter. And what could possibly go wrong with a seemingly harmless treasure hunt?

**GhostOfOnyx- **Yep, Sean and Jean are making their way to the research facility. And it should definitely be an interesting fight against Grimoire Heart. And I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed Solvieg and the moment between Caleb and Yune. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Hikari903278- **Yep, just one more chapter after this one. And honestly, I'm glad that the end of the challenge is just right over the horizon, things have been so hectic for me this past week, so I'm pretty exhausted. And well, you've still got some time to figure out how to get your idea to me, the GMG's are still a ways off since there's another Story Arc before them.

**LightandDarkHeart- **Yeah, Jayne has a lot of different ships and the YuuDon was strong last chapter. And yes! Rustyrose and Kain Hikaru are back and causing trouble for Arashi. As for your hunch: no comment.

**Reitzel-chan- **I'm just happy to get a review, so it's alright if you can't review for a while. But have fun on your trip! I wouldn't be able to since I get seasick on large boats (I'm perfectly fine on things like rowboats though). And I do wish that I could've made Caleb's and Horace's mission longer, but time restraints and all that, plus with Caleb's magic as it is, he could make Gin's magic pretty useless. And it was actually smarter of Ajax and Rayner to fight at that moment, especially since Caleb wasn't there since he would've knocked them both out... again, where Salina will actually let them fight for a little bit. And I'd say that Euclid is "helping" the bandaged man at this point since he's trying to figure out how he works, since like he said, you sometimes have to go along with someone's scheme to figure out what it is. And Sean is more skilled than most people give him credit for, he just doesn't like attracting attention to himself, so we'll see how his mission goes soon. And I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed that scene between Caleb and Yune.

**potentialauthor18- **Well... I'm glad that you looked forward to the chapter so much! Yeah, I definitely got a BK201 feel from Sean when I first got his profile. What with him being a Lightning Mage that wears a black coat and a white mask when goes on important missions (I've even been listening to the soundtrack of Darker Than Black when writing his scenes). And yeah, Team Jez's mission is so far so good. What could possibly go wrong? And I'm happy to hear that you liked the interactions in that part and you may be on to something for one of them. And the last scene with Caleb and Yune was all done on a whim, but I'm glad to hear that you liked it so much and yeah, Caleb actually implied something a few chapters back after the run in with Twilight Ogre.

**Credits:**

**Wymond Bishop- dreadburner94**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 20<strong>

Three figures stood on a cliff, overlooking the base of the remnants of Grimoire Heart with grim looks on their faces.

"So you know the man that went in there?" a blue-haired man with a tattoo on his face asked.

The dark purple-haired woman simply nodded as she watched the confrontation with her crystal ball, "Yes, he left the guild shortly before we took in Meredy. She was actually his replacement in the Seven Kin. I heard that he joined a guild two or so years ago."

"If he's a friend of yours, then we should go and help him, Ul," the pinkette nearby suggested.

The blue-haired man continued to stare down at the structure below the cliff, the remnants of an airship that bore the symbol of the Dark Guild that it housed, Grimoire Heart, "This will be one of our most difficult battles yet, but... for the sake of Ultear's friend, we must prevail," he stated as they watched the Tower of Dingir rise from the ruined airship as the sun dipped beneath the horizon.

**. : + : .**

"See?" Jezabelle whispered as she snuck into the ruins as the sky began to darken, Jayne, Roseala, and Dante following her, "Most of the monsters are leaving the ruins."

"I can still smell some of them lurking about inside," Dante grumbled.

"Really Dante?" Roseala asked, "What else can you smell?"

"Hmm..." the lion man hummed as he concentrated, "Humans... three of them."

"Do you think that they might be treasure hunters?" Jayne asked.

"It's possible," Jezabelle admitted, "Any sensible treasure hunter would enter a desert ruin at night, most desert predators take shelter in them during the day to stay out of the sun."

"In that case we should hurry!" Jayne announced as she took off.

"Jayne! Wait!" Roseala called out as she chased after her friend, Dante following her.

"Hey! You guys!" Jezabelle yelled as she tried to follow them.

"EEK!" she heard Jayne shriek, closely followed by another shriek that sounded like Roseala.

"Dammit!" she cursed as she saw a trap door close, "I was just about to explain that there might be traps too," Jezabelle huffed, "Guess I better try and find them," she added as she began running through the ruins.

**. : + : .**

"Owowowow," Roseala moaned as Dante reappeared next to her."

"Are you alright Roseala?" the man asked.

"Yes, but where's Jayne?" she asked as began frantically looking around her.

"D-down here~," she heard her friend groan from beneath her.

"Sorry!" Roseala apologized as she quickly hopped off of Jayne, allowing her to stand up.

"Where are we?" she asked as she stood up and straightened her back.

"You both fell down a trap door," Dante answered, "I believe that Jezabelle wished to warn you of possible traps."

"Ahehehehe," Jayne laughed as she scratched her cheek in embarrassment, "Well I guess we'll have to try and find her then."

"But where do we even start?" Roseala asked nervously as she looked around, "There are a bunch of different passages around us.

"Hmm... Eenie-Meenie-Miney-MOE!" Jayne shouted as she pointed to a random passage.

"We should go this way, I smell humans," Dante said suddenly as he pointed towards the opposite passage way.

"Oh! Then those treasure hunters might help us!" Roseala exclaimed, "Good job Dante!"

"Yeah... good job Dante..." Jayne muttered.

"Please, you flatter me," he smirked proudly.

**. : + : .**

"Drop me on that catwalk," Sean ordered as Jean flew in towards the facility, dropping him off on the catwalk on the outside of the building near a door, "Now I just have to pick this lock, keep a lookout."

"Got it!" Jean whispered as his partner began his work, quickly finishing.

"Okay, you wait out here for me to call you like we planned," Sean whispered as he slowly opened the door, "I'll call you via communication lachrima if I get into trouble," he added as he quickly and quietly entered the facility, not waiting for a response from Jean.

As Sean quietly ran through the facility, he saw all sorts of experimental magic tools and weapons. Most were still being developed, but he saw quite a few that were being tested and most of those were weapons of war.

'Just what is this facility?' the Lightning Mage asked himself, 'Shouldn't the Magic Council have learned by now that developing super weapons always ends badly? Or do they really think that they can keep things secret forever?'

Sean quickly shook himself of his thoughts and pressed on, finding a ventilation shaft that led downwards, quickly descending down a few floors before he exited the shaft and conveniently finding a map of the inside posted on the wall that had a big red arrow with the words 'You are hear!' next to it, marking Sean's location in the facility.

'I guess people get lost in here,' he thought as he examined the map, finding that the storage facilities were a few floors lower and a that a staircase leading down was not far from his location, 'This is too easy,' Sean smirked as he saw an unaware researcher open the doors to the storage area.

"Who-mmpf!?" the researcher yelped as Sean covered the man's mouth with his hand.

"Where is the doll that was brought in earlier?" he asked, his voice muffled by the mask he was wearing, "Uh-uh," he chastised as the man tried to speak, punishing him with a small electric shock, "Write it on the wall," Sean ordered as he placed a piece of chalk in the man's hand as he guided him over to a wall, seeing the man write down 'Storage Crate 673'.

"Mmm?" the man hummed, as if asking if he could go.

"Approximately where in the facility?" Sean asked, seeing the man write, 'Near the back right corner' on the wall, "Thank you," Sean whispered as he placed his hand on the back of the man's head, knocking him unconscious with an electric shock, 'Better clean up,' he thought to himself as he wiped away the chalk on the wall before finding a spot to hide the researcher in.

"Crate 673," Sean repeated as he made his way to the back right corner, finding the crate as it was being picked up by a crane, "No!" he shouted a bit louder than he meant to as he jumped up and grabbed the crate's latch, getting pulled up into the air along with it before being carried over to what seemed to be an office that overlooked the storage area.

"Welcome, dear guest!" a middle-aged man greeted from the catwalks above the storage area.

The man stood at about 5'7" with a stout build and grayish skin. He had droopy, tired looking brown eyes and his graying blond hair was cut in a short crop hair-cut with a bald spot forming on the top of his head, and he had a neatly trimmed goatee, beard, and sideburns. The man was wearing a brown, leather duster over a green vest and a white dress shirt. He also wore a pair of black slacks and brown leather shoes. He also had a brown, leather bag slung over his shoulder.

"My name is Wymond Bishop, Head Researcher of this facility! Our mutual... friend told me that someone might come for this doll." the man snickered.

**. : + : .**

It was a horrible situation, Arashi was being pulled up into the air by the Tower of Dingir, one of Rustyrose's most powerful spells, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before the tower exploded.

"Shit!" the S-Class Mage cursed as he tried to pull himself free to no avail. He could barely see Rusty down below him, laughing maniacally as he prepared to detonate the tower before he saw what looked like an orb of crystal strike the man in the face.

"Meteor!" he heard someone call out as he saw a man in a blue cloak fly through the air towards him, surrounded by a brilliant light as he pulled Arashi from the tower, moments before it's detonation.

"The hell are..." Arashi started to ask as the blue-haired man set Arashi down on the ground, "Ultear!" he shouted as he saw his one-time comrade and friend, "Why are you here?"

"Arashi..." the woman said quietly as she turned to look at the Aether Mage, before looking back at her two former guild mates with a serious look on her face, "We'll have time to explain later."

"Ah... It seems as though we're having a reunion of demons and cast-offs," Rustyrose said as he rubbed his cheek, "The eldest and the youngest members of our kin have returned with their tool it seems."

"M-M-M-M-M-Meredy!" Kain shouted nervously, "Wh-w-w-w-why..."

"We're hear to stop you and to save Ul's friend!" Meredy answered as she quickly translated what the large man had to say, causing the large man to take on a serious expression.

"Then as a member of the Seven Kin of Purgatory... I will crush you!" the large man said darkly as he pulled out a small doll and plucking a hair from his head as he placed onto the doll.

"Shall the demons and cast-offs commence their festival of blood?" Rustyrose asked as his arm transformed into his Jet Black Sword.

"Jellal, be careful," Ultear warned as they took their stances, each side waiting for the other to make a move.

**. : + : .**

Camille walked through the moonlit streets of Hargeon and in her hands was an old and beat up oil-paper umbrella that couldn't open without falling apart. She felt a bit guilty for stealing it out of Salina's room while she was gone, but she, Rayner, and Miriam all decided to pitch in and get it repaired for their Guild Master's birthday in a few days.

Camille was wearing a far more casual outfit due to the rain, consisting of a burgundy jacket that was lined with dark gray stripes and a hood, a black t-shirt, black jeans, and burgundy tennis shoes that had dark gray diagonal lines on the sides of them. Camille's hair was also let down, allowing her blond hair to fall down to her shoulder blades and even though she wasn't too fond of wearing hats, she was wearing a black beanie that her master, Zander, had given her.

"Alistar~!" she heard a few girls whine, "C'mon, please stay for a little while longer," they begged as Camille watched the S-Class Mage leave a restaurant.

"S-sorry!" he apologized, "But I can't stay all night. The Guild Master's out of town so we S-Class Mages are responsible for the guild."

"Wow! So she put you in charge while she's away?" a girl asked.

"Well, not just me..." he started to say as the girls' fantasies started to grow in their minds, 'Here we go again," he moaned inwardly.

"Master Velvet has much more sense than to leave the well-being of the guild in the hands of this man," Camille interjected as she approached the small group, quickly earning her the ire of the small crowd.

"Who's this creep?" one of the girl's asked.

"Yeah, tell him to get out of here Alistar!"

"Him?" Alistar repeated with a confused expression.

"Yeah! You aren't going to let him get away with insulting you right?"

"Nah, she's never liked me," Alistar grinned as he realized that they thought Camille was a boy.

"That's a girl?"

"Yeah, Camille's also one of the guild's founders too," he added as the girls' complexion paled as they realized that they had just tried to gang up on one of Undine's Cove's founding members.

"Please continue with what you girls were saying," Camille said calmly, "If you have any complaints about Undine's Cove, it is my duty to address them as one of the guild's founding members," she added as the girls quickly left, bidding farewell to Alistar.

"You came at just the right time, those girls were getting annoying," the S-Class Mage sighed.

"It's your fault for leading them all on in the first place!" the Gunblader snapped, "It's as if you try and pick up every girl you meet!"

"Yeah, I don't really try to either," he admitted.

"How is that any better!?" Camille asked, "In fact it's worse!"

"Well yeah, but at least I don't go around trying to pick up every girl in town. It just happens," the red head shrugged.

"Have you ever tried turning them away?"

"Of course I've tried telling them that I'm not interested, but have you ever tried to reason with fangirls? It's like trying to tell a brick wall to get up and stand somewhere else," Alistar explained, "What are you doing out here anyways?" he asked in an effort to change the subject.

"Oh... Rayner, Miriam, and myself decided to get this restored for Master's birthday," Camille answered as she held out the old umbrella.

"Her birthday?" Alistar repeated, placing his hand on his chin in thought, "Well why stop at a single present? Let's just throw one big party for her," he suggested, shocking Camille.

"That's actually a wonderful suggestion coming from a man like you," Camille said in a slight tone of awe.

"What do you mean 'from a man like me'?" he asked.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **This chapter gave me all sorts of trouble, so the scenes were a bit shorter than I'd like them to be... but I managed to get it done before midnight.

Well, the final day of the challenge is tomorrow!

Please remember to leave a review!

Your Host,

dreadburner94.


	25. Treasure Hunters and Alchemists

**A/N: **This... is... it! Day 7 of the 7 Day Challenge begins now! Chapter 21 begins now!

I just realized something... the 7 Day Challenge is ending with 21, which is 7*3, or 7+7+7. I didn't even plan that, but there's another set of three 7's for all of you.

I'd like to thank WrittenWhim, SaiyaStyles, WaterDragonMaverick, GhostOfOnyx, PrinceOfTheMatrix88, ManhattanTheory, QueenKazza, Stormhawk99, potentialauthor18, and FrozenBlast13 for their reviews last chapter! Seriously though people, if I didn't get many reviews from doing this challenge, I would've quit after Day 3 of the challenge most likely since I nearly did just quit the challenge then, but y'all kept me going through it all against all odds.

**WrittenWhim- **Roseala is the youngest member of the guild at this point and Jayne is a very light-hearted girl, so that's probably why you get this sense of childishness from the two of them. And yeah, Sean is acting all spy like and he did a good job of getting to where he needed to go and yes... I had to write the entirety of that major battle this chapter when I was already at my limit. But I'm glad that I could pleasantly surprise you with Crime Sorcière (I honestly figured that pretty much everybody would enjoy having them written in last chapter and I had a good reason to write them in, so I did).

**SaiyaStyles- **Well, I couldn't even write in the main characters even if I wanted to (which I'm perfectly fine with not writing them right now, except for Erza and Gajeel), so characters like Lyon, Jellal, Ultear, Jude Heartfilia, and even Kaby Melon from the Daybreak Arc got to make appearances. And yeah, there's bound to be all sorts of things in that facility, but unfortunately, Sean doesn't have time to look around.

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Yep, we're just going to have to see how well things go for the girls now that they're all separated. And yeah, Sean is rather skilled, but is it really surprising Euclid would have a contact within the facility that he sent Mr. Voodoo too? And thanks to the timely aid of Jellal, Ultear, and Meredy, Arashi is ready to begin his fight against Kain and Rustyrose in earnest. Yep, Camille showed off a bit of her more casual dress due to the rain and the party is now being planned out since it'll happen in a few chapters, and that beanie is the only thing that Camille will wear on her head since she doesn't really like to wear hats or anything on her head in the slightest really.

**GhostOfOnyx- **Yep, Crime Sorcière had a timely arrival fortunately for Arashi and I wouldn't necessarily call Wymond fat, but it's best not to underestimate someone with ties to Euclid. And of course Jayne's method is far more full-proof, never fails, and Dante as he is not human refers to people as humans since people to him are other summonings, but he does look up to another certain cat man.

**PrinceOfTheMatrix88- **Yeah the first time I laid on eyes on Sean's profile, I figured that he might be based off of BK201 from Darker Than Black, so I have my fun with him and yeah, things are looking down for the treasure hunt and I hope the fight with Arashi, Crime Sorcière, and Grimoire Heart lives up to your expectations!

**ManhattanTheory- **Yep, the independent guild has arrived on the scene, so things should get pretty interesting. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**QueenKazza- **Yeah I figured that adding some canon characters would be a bit of a treat for you all, so I picked the ones most suited to what was going on, figured out a way to get them in and boom, Jellal, Ultear, and Meredy arrived on the scene. And yeah, Jayne's method is probably the one that most people would use in that situation, although there is a method involving a torch and going in the direction that the flame flickers towards.

**Stormhawk99- **Hehe... Arashi's mission has actually been the biggest pain this round of missions, but I'm glad that you like it so much and don't worry, I actually plan on touching on all of the characters in the next few chapters, but you'll learn more about that later.

**potentialauthor18- **Yep, their first few few moments in the ruins went really well, and you'll see who the other people are in a bit. And yeah, I wouldn't necessarily be all that happy if I put in all that effort to get something, only to have it snatched away either. And yep, canon characters came to Arashi's aid last chapter and we'll see how they're doing in a moment. And I'm glad that you liked the scene between Camille and Alistar, I figured that we hadn't seen the S-Class mage in a while so I decided to set up a soon to occur event while I was at it and yeah, I figured that Camille really looked like a boy in the outfit she was wearing, with the only thing that would really hint to her being female is that she had long hair, but hey, Camille's used to being called or thought of as a boy. Yeah, I honestly thought about giving up more than once when it came to this challenge, but I said that I'd do it to who knows how many people, so I did it... Wow... I did it didn't I?

**FrozenBlast13- **Yep, Varic's made out of ice, but you'll have to wait a while for the full story. As for Malon's rumor about Salina, every tale has at least a grain of truth to it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Credits:**

**Renegade the Wolf- Falling Lanterns**

**Mr. Voodoo- SaiyaStyles**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 21<strong>

"Out of my way!" Jezabelle yelled as she pulled out a metal staff, the rod expanding to the size of a bo-staff as she slammed it into the side of a giant insect's head, "Tch... I guess that trap door attracted their attention," she mumbled as she leaped over another insect, ramming the staff into the back of it, "Figures that the last things in the ruins are bugs," the S-Class Mage muttered as she saw another crowd of insects making their way towards her, with a giant scorpion following them, "Might as well have some fun!" she exclaimed as she held her staff out in front of her in both hands.

"God Transformation Magic!" she announced as a ring of fire erupted around her, "Hestia!" Jezabelle roared as the ring of fire completely enveloped her, shielding her from view, only to reveal that she had changed as the fire died down. In this new form, Jezabelle's appearance changed immensely, she had noticeably less curves, her torso had become shorter, as well as her fingers. Her hair now only fell down to her mid-back in curls and her hair was now a bright red with orange and yellow highlights in it, making it to resemble fire. Her eye shape remained the same, but they were now a startling red color and her ears were now pointed. Jezabelle now wore a loose, orange cami top with a high waisted red flared skirt and a pair of thigh high, black riding boots. She also wore a pair of black, leather fingerless gloves and a mask that resembled a phoenix.

"Shall we dance?" the transformed woman asked as fire erupted around her again, frightening the insects as she charged in, tearing them apart as she neared the scorpion, deflecting it's stinger with her staff as it tried to grab her with it's claws, only for Jezabelle to pierce through the claw with her staff, pinning it to the ground as it screeched out in pain.

"Hestia's Great Hearth!" she announced as she released a great blast of fire at point-blank range, leaving the scorpion, burnt from head to toe as she pulled her staff free while she leaped above the creature in a single, swift motion, "Coming through!" she shouted as she released another blast of fire, causing the creature to break through the ground beneath it, falling into the darkness, "Looks like I have my way down now," Jezabelle sighed as she hopped down the opening she created.

**. : + : .**

"Dun, Dun," the large man muttered as he tried to smash Jayne with his large, hand-shaped hammer.

"Light Magic: Light Shield!" Jayne shouted as a shield of light barely appeared in time for her to block the attack, the shield of light cracking under the immense force of the strike, "Sure! Head towards the humans! They'll help!" she yelled sarcastically as she ran from under the hammer.

"Apologies," Dante grunted as he held a chain sword between his hands, a man with spiky hair grinning as he pressed in on the summon.

"Heh, there's no stopping the super Treasure Hunter Guild Sylph Labyrinth!" the man with the spiky hair, who's name was Hiroshi, declared, "We always get what we want!"

"Dun!" the large man, Lala, repeated as he turned to face Jayne again.

"Sorry," Roseala muttered as she watched Dante and Jayne fight, only to hear a loud sound resound throughout the area as Dante disappeared, mumbling an apology, "Dante!"

"A sniper!?" Jayne gasped.

"Haha! Super nice shot Drake!" Hiroshi laughed as Jayne and Roseala noticed what seemed to be a man on the far end of the corridor.

"Dante..." Roseala muttered as she pulled out her large book, "Fable Magic! Come! Renegade the Wolf!" she shouted as a tall, muscular man with long black hair appeared. The man, Renegade the Wolf had black wolf ears, sharp teeth and claws, and he only wore a pair of black pants which had a black wolf tail sticking out of it.

"Need someone taken care of?" Renegade asked as he stared down the three strangers, knowing that the sniper was there through his sense of smell, "Grr... We'll need Jericho!" he growled as barely dodged a sniper bullet, "Get him summoned!" he demanded as he ran in towards Hiroshi, "Claw Magic: Blazing Claws!" he announced as he struck at the swordsman with flaming claws.

"Dun!" Lala yelled as Jayne barely managed to dodge his next strike.

"Blinding Light!" she shouted as an incredibly bright light was emitted from her hands, blinding Lala as she ran around him, pulling out a few small lachrima bombs from the waistband of her skirt, "Take this!" she yelled as she through them at Lala's back, the bombs exploding upon impact and causing the large man to stagger as he quickly turned around, recklessly swinging his hammer.

"Jericho the Tortoise! Come!" Roseala shouted as the large, stalwart man appeared to block Lala's strike.

"It seems you took your time," Jericho grunted as he held back the hammer with his large shell.

"Nice save Rose!" Jayne called out as she stood next to Jericho, seeing that Roseala was getting tired from maintaining two summons in battle at once, 'It looks like she'll collapse if she has to summon another one of her characters, she's barely standing... It looks like I'll have to really pull my weight," she thought to herself as she looked down the corridor towards the sniper, "Jericho! You handle this guy! I'm going after that sniper!"

"Just don't let time get ahead of you," Jericho grunted as he pushed Lala back before charging into him with his shell.

"Heh... That's right little girlie... Just run straight towards me..." the sniper, Drake, snickered as he heard rumbling from above him, "What the..." he mumbled as he saw a giant, burnt scorpion burst through the ceiling above him, "Oh shi-!" he started to curse as the creature and rubble landed on top of him, leaving only the top half of the unconscious sniper remaining uncovered as Jezabelle landed on top of the scorpion.

"Jezabelle!" Jayne called out as she recognized the S-Class Mage's transformed state.

"Dun!? Drake!" Hiroshi screamed, getting his catchphrase confused with Lala's.

"Super not good!" Lala yelled, picking up Hiroshi's catchphrase of 'Super'.

"Stone Claws!" Renegade shouted as he struck Hiroshi in the side of the head, sending him flying into the wall in an unconscious heap as Jericho followed suit, sending the distraught Lala flying into the wall.

"D-Did we win?" Roseala panted as she tried to continue providing magic power to her two characters.

"Yeah, you did," Renegade smirked, "We'll go now so that you can recover some, all right?" he added as he and Jericho vanished, Roseala feeling immediate relief on her magic.

"You two handled yourselves well," Jezabelle said proudly as she walked towards the two younger girls, "Slyph Labyrinth is pretty dangerous I hear."

"We would've been in whole lot more trouble if you didn't show up though Jez," Jayne admitted, "I don't think we could've lasted much longer."

"Now we've just got to find the treasure," Roseala added as she walked up to Jayne and Jezabelle.

"Um... question?" Jayne said suddenly, "How are we going to get the treasure out of here when we find it?" she asked, receiving no answer as all three girls simultaneously sighed.

**. : + : .**

Sean looked over at the man, Wymond Bishop, who was now obstructing his mission.

"Any and all obstructions to the mission must be dealt with," Sean muttered as he leapt from the storage crate towards the catwalk as he drew and swung one of swords towards the scientist, only to be avoided.

"Please, calm yourself," Wymond muttered as he pulled a vial of red liquid from his bag, drinking every last drop of the concoction, "Now we may begin in earnest. Time Shift Magic: Double," he announced as his speed was suddenly doubled, Wymond appearing directly in front of Sean as he sent him flying across the catwalk with a powerful punch to the abdomen.

"C-come..." Sean muttered into a communication lachrima before he shattered it, Wymond quickly appearing next to Sean, trying to kick him the Lightning Mage sent a powerful electric charge through the man as he fell over, slumping against the wall, 'Was that it?' he asked himself as he grabbed the keys off of Wymond's belt and began walking away.

"Surprise!" Wymond yelled as he threw and orange vial at Sean's back, the fluid's inside igniting as soon as the glass shattered, setting him ablaze, "You should never let your guard down around an Alchemist!" he laughed as he watched Sean struggle as he tried to pull off his coat.

"Ice God's Field!" the masked mage yelled as a black ice covered Sean and the catwalk, putting out the fire as Sean shattered the ice on himself, his coat scorched.

"A God Slayer?" Wymond gasped.

"Ice God's Pillar!" Sean yelled as a pillar of black ice shot from his arm, impaling Wymond in his moment of shock.

"Hehehe..." the man laughed as blood dripped out of his mouth, "It still won't matter... what you do!" he screamed as he lifted Sean by the pillar of ice before slamming him into the storage crate that hung in the air, sending both Sean and the crate falling to the ground.

"What a monster," Sean panted as he saw that the crate had be smashed open, seeing a doll made of red leather with black buttons stitched on as eyes laying on the ground, "Is that the doll?" he asked himself as he picked it up.

"Having fun yet!?" Wymond shouted from the catwalk, the hole in his stomach having completely healed, "If not, then here's some presents!" he yelled as he threw several orange, yellow, and green colored vials down towards Sean as he tucked away the doll and began running away from the flasks of lighting, fire, and acid.

"Are you here!?" he heard Jean call out from inside the facility.

"Here!" Sean shouted as he climbed on top of several crates before jumping into the air, Jean catching him, "Fly towards that wall!" he ordered as Wymond simply watched them with a smirk on his face.

"Roger!" Jean responded as Sean removed his mask just enough to reveal his mouth.

"Ice God's Bellow!" he roared as a tempest of snow and ice broke through the wall up at an angle, allowing them escape to above ground.

"It's just as you predicted, Euclid," Wymond chuckled into a small communication lachrima.

"_Oh? Undine's Cove decided to drop by then?" _the Information Broker responded through the crystal.

"Yes, you didn't tell me that they had a third God Slayer."

"_It must have slipped my mind then. So I take it that Salina sent Sean Clement to recover the doll then?"_

"Yes and by the by, doesn't that guild have someone with a relation to that girl?" Wymond asked.

"_You mean that girl with the sword in her?" _Euclid questioned, _"Yes, they do, and I've already started to incorporate some plans involving her and I have Rhia watching the other related party."_

"Do you really think that you can trust that demon?"

"_I don't trust her in the slightest actually," _Euclid stated, _"But that's why I gave the task to her."_

"I see," Wymond muttered, "Well, I have a facility to clean up. The Magic Council will be breathing down my neck until I do."

"_Have fun," _the Information Broker said nonchalantly, _"Oh, and remember... Don't tell them who broke into the facility. It wouldn't be fun to get Undine's Cove dissolved in such a fashion and it's a pain to bribe officials to turn a blind eye."_

"Of course, Euclid," Wymond responded as the Broker cut the transmission.

**. : + : .**

"Aether Surge!" Arashi called out as he his body glowed red, allowing him to keep up with Jellal as they flew behind Rustyrose.

"Pegasus Wings!" Rusty shouted as small wings sprouted on his feet as he took off into the air, "Golden Shield!" he yelled as his left hand transformed into a large shield just before the two men landed their attacks, "Strike forth! Jet Black Sword!" he announced as he swung his right arm at the two men, Jellal catching the arm as Arashi continued to fly around Rusty.

"Crimson Laceration!" Arashi announced as he swung his arms at Rusty's back, slashing open several wounds while Jellal threw the Dark Mage towards a crowd of underlings, before releasing several fast moving beams from his hands towards Rusty, each one exploding upon impact.

"Belcusas the Thunderclap!" the two men heard as a giant armored beast came to life, leaping towards Jellal as he quickly fell back with the use of Meteor.

"Distract that thing!" the blue-haired man shouted as he flew up into the air.

"Got it!" Arashi responded as he dodged a ferocious strike from the armored creature left a small crater where he stood, "Aether's Arrow!" he announced as he released a powerful crimson blast into the beast's head as it let out a roar, "Guess I only made it angry."

"Dodoskoi!" Kain Hikaru roared as he struck the ground, where Ultear had just been standing.

"Arc of Time: Luminous Minutes!" Ultear called out as she threw her crystal ball into the air above Kain, the orb quickly producing several copies of itself as they all rained down on the large man.

"Iron Doll," Kain said lowly as the dust cleared, revealing that he had transformed his doll and body into iron.

"Meredy! Are you ready!?" Ultear shouted.

"Yes! Maguilty Sense: Multi Spread Sensory Link!" Meredy announced as she finished casting her spell, linking the senses of every underling in the ruin with Kain's senses.

"Restore," Ultear mumbled as her crystal ball reappeared in her hands, "Now, Flash Forward!" she shouted as numerous copies of her orb rushed around Kain towards the many underlings, striking them all while transferring all of the pain they were experiencing between all of them and Kain, quickly rendering even the large man unconscious.

"Get out of the way!" Jellal shouted as Arashi quickly made himself scarce, "Heavenly Body Magic!" he announced as seven magic seals appeared in the sky as he placed both of his hands on top of each other, the top hand only having the index and middle fingers spread out, "Grand Chariot!" he yelled as each magic seal launched a powerful magic blast down onto Belcusas, quickly destroying it as Arashi flew past it towards Rustyrose, striking the man in the abdomen with an Aether enhanced punch before pulling his other fist back and striking the Dark Mage in the face, slamming his head against the nearby wall.

"It... seems that... we demons are... once again cast... into the pits of Hell," Rustyrose muttered before he fell unconscious from the trauma that he took to the head.

**. : + : .**

Salina stood patiently as she waited for the Councilmen to discuss her proposition. She was standing in the court room of the Fiore Branch of the Magic Council, the Thought Projections of the council members were sitting in the podium that overlooked her as they discussed her request.

"Salina Velvet!" the chairman, Gran Doma, suddenly called out.

"Yes, Chairman?" she responded as she looked up at the Magic Council.

"Why do you wish for the bounty on Styles Kaizu to be revoked?" he asked, his tone demanding a quick answer.

"Because I see a mage that needs guidance, Chairman," Salina answered.

"Is this like your pity for the mage Reginald Ladon?" another council member asked.

"Call it what you will," Salina huffed, "But, if I see a man that I believe needs help, should I not help him? Has Reginald ever caused any of you any problems? Has he ever showed signs of becoming like his parents?" she asked as she gave them all a hard stare.

"I believe that we should permit her request," Org suddenly stated, "Salina Velvet has shown herself to be a reliable Guild Master these past few years," he added as the other councilmen began debating amongst themselves again.

"Enough!" Gran Doma bellowed, silencing the councilmen, "Very well then. I permit Salina Velvet, the First Guild Master of Undine's Cove, to take Styles Kaizu into her custody. However, he must pay off his bounty through missions and should he leave the guild before his bounty has been cleared, he will once again be treated as a Dark Mage."

"Thank you for your grace and understanding," Salina bowed with a smile.

"Do not misunderstand," the Chairman interjected, "If we believe that he is becoming a threat to the safety of the Magic World, then we will take action against him and you will be forced to comply."

"Of course..." Salina said lowly as thunder cracked outside, a silent conversation seemingly taking place between her and Gran Doma.

"You are dismissed," he stated, Salina quickly turning on her heels and leaving as soon as she could.

"Hm... She's a bit too similar to her brother for her own good," Org mumbled.

"That man disappeared over two decades ago," Gran Doma added, "He was far too bright for his own good it seems," the Chairman mumbled as his and all of the other Thought Projections disappeared.

"Lugus Velvet..." Org muttered, "Yes, she's become very much like him since she founded a guild," he added as his own Thought Projection vanished.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **Is that it? Did I win the challenge? Can I have a life again now? Do I win a prize?

Day 7 of the 7 Day Challenge is complete! The challenge is complete!

Okie-Dokie, now all that's left for this arc is a few chapters of wrapping things up and then we'll be well on our way into the next arc!

But first, I'm going to have a well deserved week off from writing.

Your (feeling rather accomplished and tired and stressed) Host,

dreadburner94.


	26. The Fable's Affection and Pride

**A/N: **Alright, breaks over... back to work for me. But I think I'll be taking the right to do a Historical Omake just because I feel like it as a reward for completing the challenge.

Well anyways, we just have two or so chapters (counting this one) until we finally finish this story arc off for good, and then we can move on to something that I've been rather excited to do.

So anyways, I'd like to thank WrittenWhim, WaterDragonMaverick, SaiyaStyles, GhostOfOnyx, FrozenBlast13, ManhattanTheory, Rinnto, Guest, lexlovesya, MyDearWatson, and Markg493 for their reviews for the last chapter!

**WrittenWhim- **Well, I said I was going to do the 7 Day Challenge so I did it, I guess that's all there really was to it in the end, despite how often I just wanted to give up in the middle of the challenge. And yeah, Team Jez actually has to find the treasure and get it out of there, but there's really nothing interesting to write about there other than how they manage to get it all out of there. And yep, Sean's second magic is Ice God Slayer Magic and you might remember the potion that Wymond drank before the fight started, and of course Euclid was involved, he has fingers in every pie across Fiore and even in some beyond. But yeah, I'll be more or less wrapping things up this chapter.

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Yeah, Jezabelle has more forms than just Hestia, some of them are even more powerful than that one though, and yeah, the Sylph Labyrinth team may be the most powerful Treasure Hunters and they can defeat your average mage with ease (they probably would've won if Drake didn't get crushed by debris), but they seem to have a habit of losing to mostly female teams that have a summoner in them for some reason. And I believe that I've said this before, I could be wrong, but Sean doesn't really like to attract attention to himself, and Slayers tend to attract attention, so he keeps it a secret. And yes, Kimi had best watch out for Jean. Yeah, just a bit too much like Rustyrose, I still kinda find it strange how he refers to the members of Grimoire Heart as demons when they're not. And yeah, the Magic Council, both the one before the Tower of Heaven and the one after it are very harsh.

**SaiyaStyles- **Ooh! Cookies! And the prestigious 14 Day Writing Challenge! No! Never! I'm still recovering from the 7 Day Writing Challenge... and that would lead up to the Legendary 21 Day Writing Challenge... and don't even get me started on the Mythical 28 Day Writing Challenge or the 35 Day Writing Challenge of Lore, or even the 42 Day Writing Challenge of Godhood. Anyways, I'm glad that you liked Renegade the Wolf and yeah, the Magic Council just kills all of the fun and with all the death weapons they apparently have only to have misused, it wouldn't surprise me if they have a fun-killing death weapon under the surface of the ocean since they have some buried underground and even in space.

**GhostOfOnyx- **Another cookie! Yeah, Styles'll probably be pretty upset to hear the Magic Council's ruling, but we'll see I suppose. And fortunately for you, you only had to wait a few days for the next chapter.

**FrozenBlast13- **I'm happy to hear that you're enjoying all the different characters so far! And I'm pretty sure that you were able to find all of the chapters, but things were pretty hectic for a week there... And yep, Jez's magic allows her to transform into a variety of deities, including Hestia, goddess of the hearth, and yeah, pretty much all of Roseala's characters have a good relationship with her, but there are a few troublesome ones... And another cookie!

**ManhattanTheory- **If only I could take that full week vacation... But I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the chapter!

**Rinnto- **It's alright if you can't really think of what to say in a review and I'm sure that there are people that read, but don't review. But the ones that review are the ones that get acknowledged and thanked since they're the ones that take the time to write a review, plus they're the ones that keep me going sometimes (like on the days that I had a lot of difficulties during the challenge). But all in all, I do appreciate those of you who read the story, but don't review, but there's just a bit more of an appreciation for those who take the time to leave a review.

**Guest- **Well I'm happy to hear that you like Arashi, as well as they way that I portrayed Grimoire Heart. And Sean certainly has his moments and I'm certain that you'll see what could possibly go wrong with a treasure hunt if you haven't already.

**lexlovesya- **Yep, never get on Caleb's bad side, it's a very dangerous place to be. And I'm happy to hear that you liked Gunther, he's not quite as nice in Kobold Mine though... And yeah, Varic's little incident in the mine sorta came without warning, which was what I was trying to do and Horace isn't an S-Class Mage for nothing, being on his bad side is an equivalent to suicide for most people. Euclid is one of those people who keep you on your toes, he has his moments where you can easily identify him as a villain and other moments where he seems not so bad, but yes, Euclid was based off of Izaya Orihara, so it's no surprise that he'd make you have flashbacks of Durarara! I still need to finish the last few episodes of that. Yep, that chapter had some YuuDon at the end of it and yeah, there's quite a bit to learn about Sean. Sigh... fangirls... I feel sorry for you since you're related to some... you have my condolences. And yeah, Sean has no plans on telling anyone that he's a God Slayer, the only ones that do know are Salina and Jean I believe (and also Euclid since his business is knowing everyone else's business).

**MyDearWatson- **I'm happy to hear that enjoyed the past two chapters! And yeah, Jez has got some pretty cool magic. And well, Sean just doesn't like attracting attention to himself, so that's one reason why he keeps his Ice God Slayer magic a secret, and yep, Euclid has some plans for that certain girl, whoever she may be. Frankly, I feel like I could've done more with the scenes of Arashi's missions, but I was rushed at the time and rather stressed, but it's good to hear that you enjoyed them nonetheless! And I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed that small scene between Camille and Alistar, and yeah, you're on the right track there with the party. And yep, you'll learn more about Lugus Velvet in the next part of Salina's Historical Omake, as for his status... it's a secret for now. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Markg493- **I'm happy to hear that you've enjoyed the story so far! Yeah, Caleb's a pretty amazing healer and I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed Sean's fight as well! Yep, Euclid's pretty much always up to something, and he's got a lot of plans in motion to boot. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 22<strong>

"So... Care to explain why you're here?" Arashi said with a serious look on his face as he looked at his former guild mate, Ultear.

The independent mage let out a sigh before looking over at Jellal, the blue-haired man giving her a nod before she spoke, "Our guild, Crime Sorcière, has one objective. The eradication of all evils brought about by the Dark Guilds and Zeref. And Rustyrose and Kain were the last two people to see Zeref before he disappeared again."

"So you wanted to see if they knew where he went?" Arashi asked, receiving a nod in return.

"However, we'll have to wait for them to wake up before we can ask them anything," Ultear sighed, "So why were you looking for them?"

"I'm looking for information," the S-Class man answered, "Information on an Info Broker named Euclid."

"Euclid?" Jellal gasped, both of his guild mates wearing equally shocked looks on their faces.

"You know him?"

"...Yeah," the older man nodded, "We utilized his services a few times... back then," he added quietly, an expression of regret on his face.

"Hades used him a few times too find the keys too," Meredy added.

"If you're looking for him, I advise against it," Ultear warned.

"Sorry, that's Salina's call," Arashi retorted, "He attacked a few of my guild mates a few days ago while they were on a mission, so he's made himself our enemy."

The three independent mages looked at Arashi for a short moment, before Jellal spoke up again, "We don't know where his base of operations are unfortunately," he sighed, "But we can tell you about some of his personnel though, and about some of the jobs that he's taken in the past.

"Anything would help," the Aether mage responded, "I don't want to make this a wasted trip after all."

"Alright then, his top agent is a man named Proclus," the blue-haired man stated as he began his explanation.

**. : + : .**

**April 7th, X790**

"I never wanna go treasure hunting again!" Jayne whined as she, Jezabelle, Roseala, and Jericho the Tortoise walked through Hargeon.

"It certainly was tedious..." Jezabelle added, "I can't believe that I forgot to bring a cart..."

"It was good that we took our time though," the large fable stated, causing the three girls to sweat drop.

"But we had to carry each piece of treasure out to the vehicle," Roseala sobbed, "And Dante got hurt in the fight."

"Please, don't worry about Dante, Roseala. The brave lion recovered completely upon returning to the book," Jericho interjected.

"But still... he got hurt because we didn't realize that the sniper was there quick enough..."

"Roseala. It is our pride to protect and serve you in battle," the large man responded, "You are the most kind master we could've asked for."

"Jericho..."

"See Rose? I'm sure that Dante would tell you the exact same thing!" Jayne added as she brought the younger girl into a side hug, Jericho affirming the girl's statement with a nod as one of their guild mates approached them.

"Jezabelle," Camille called out as she stopped in front of the group.

"Camille? What is it?" the S-Class mage asked as she and the other two girls looked at Camille with curious looks.

"Do you think you can keep Master Velvet away from the guild for an hour or so tomorrow?" the suit-wearing girl requested.

"Yeah... But why?"

"We'll be throwing a birthday party for her tomorrow and we'll need her to be away from the guild so that we can set up," Camille answered.

"A party!?" Jayne exclaimed, "That's a great idea! Did you come up with it?"

"Erm... No... It was actually Alistar's idea," she admitted, "I had just planned to get her old umbrella repaired as a present."

"So it was you and Alistar that came up with the idea," Jayne muttered, the girl obviously thinking of nothing good, "Alright! Come on Rose!" she exclaimed as she grabbed the younger girl's hand and took off.

"Jayne! Slow down some!" Roseala shrieked as they ran towards the guild, Jericho disappearing as they took off.

"Did I say something?" Camille asked no one in particular.

"Oh she's probably taking off to play matchmaker somewhere," Jezabelle chuckled as she watched the two girls change course, "She probably got the idea of you and Alistar in her head just now," she added, a faint blush appearing on Camille's face.

"Me and that man!?" she shouted, her face angry, but still retaining a blush, "I've never known anyone so irritating asides from my teacher!"

"So he reminds Camille of her teacher," they heard Jayne mutter from behind Camille, the girl standing in a nearby alleyway with Roseala, quickly writing something down on a notepad, "Wait... Beanie Guy!" she exclaimed as she recalled the redhead from a few days ago.

"Beanie Guy?" Roseala repeated in a confused tone.

"Yeah! He asked me to deliver a letter to Camille!" the older girl answered, "But I had to give it to Salina since Camille left on a mission."

"Oh yeah... I remember seeing them in the train station," the Fable Mage recalled as she brought a finger up to her chin in thought.

"Y-you!" Camille growled.

"Whelp, let's go!" Jayne exclaimed as she grabbed Roseala's hand as she took off again.

"Just leave them be Camille," Jezabelle sighed, "There's no stopping Jayne once she gets an idea in her head," she added before a thought crossed her mind, "And besides, denying it would only make her even more determined."

"I see," the younger girl said as she let out a sigh, "I should probably go and see if Rayner and Alistar are done shopping for supplies," Camille added as she walked away.

**. : + : .**

"Is this the doll?" Sean asked the Kaizus as he held out a red leather doll, Jean standing next to him and the bar in the guildhall, with an eager look.

"Mr. Voodoo!" Kimi gasped as she quickly took the doll from the other mage and hugged it tightly.

"Y-you actually went and got him back, human," Styles said with a shocked look on his face, not having expected the duo to succeed.

"Hm... All I did was sneak in..." Sean mumbled, "Anyone could've done it," he added as Jean walked up to Kimi with an innocent look on his face, his arms outstretched.

"Hug?" the cat asked in a sweet and innocent voice.

Kimi looked down at the cat. Since he was an animal, Styles wouldn't get mad if she gave him a hug in return, "Alright," Kimi sighed as she started to bend down.

"NO!" the heard a girl scream as a foot suddenly connected with Jean, sending him flying into the staircase with a powerful kick, Jean letting out a pained scream before he impacted against the guardrail.

"Eh?" Kimi gawked as she blinked a few times, registering what had happened before standing up, seeing the girl who was responsible for kicking Jean.

"Miriam," Sean muttered, seeing the angry girl glaring at Jean.

"Pervert," she mumbled before turning her glare against Sean, "You weren't going to stop that perverted cat of yours?"

"He wouldn't have listened to me anyways," he responded, looking away from Miriam's glare.

"Well then, you can apologize to these two!" she shouted, "Whoever they are..." Miriam added with a whisper as Styles gave her his own angry glare for kicking an animal.

"Sorry about Jean," the man sighed, "He was about to feel the girl up."

"Wh-What!" Styles gasped before his angry look returned to his face as he walked behind the bar, pulling the unconscious cat off of the staircase, "Y-You!"

"So don't let Jean within touching distance," Sean explained.

"And never let him into your room, Kimi," Salina added as she returned to the guild.

"My room?" Kimi repeated.

"What do you mean her room?" Styles asked as he dropped Jean after threatening him.

"Oh. You two will be staying here from now on," the guild master answered happily, "Or Styles can go to jail if he doesn't want to stay."

"Wh-What!?" the Blood Mage shouted, "You can't just decide that on your own!"

"It was the Magic Council's decision actually," Salina responded, "So unfortunately none of us have any say in the matter. You can either join Undine's Cove and work off your bounty, or you can turn yourself in to the authorities and serve your time. Those are the options they've given you."

"Styles..." Kimi said softly, seeing the angry look on his face, "I think we should stay here. They helped us after all."

"Tch... Kimi..."

They also didn't have any reason too," Kimi added, "And Salina's given you a chance to get rid of your bounty, so..."

"All right! All right! I get it!" Styles growled, "We'll stay here and join the human's guild."

"I knew you'd come through," Salina sighed happily, "Now then, where do you want your guild marks?" she asked as Sean began to walk away, holding Jean over his shoulder by the tail.

"Wait! Sean!" Miriam called out as she ran after him as he kept walking towards the male dorm, "There's something I need to ask you," she whispered once she caught up to the man.

"What?"

"Tomorrow. We need you to cook a feast tomorrow," she answered.

"A whole... feast?" he repeated, "What makes you think I can do that?"

"Please... Everyone knows that you're the best cook in the guild," Miriam said in a matter-of-fact tone, "And it's for Salina. It's her birthday tomorrow."

Sean let out a long sigh, knowing that if it was for the Guild Master, that he couldn't refuse, "All right... I'll do it. We're using one of the dorm's kitchens right?"

"Yeah... I know that they're not the best kitchens, but they're the closest."

**. : + : .**

"I guess we should've gotten it in rounds, rather than all at once," Rayner groaned as he and Alistar struggled to pull the cart full of party supplies.

"It is a bit much isn't it?" Alistar sweat-dropped as he looked back the massive pile of things stacked into the cart.

"Where are we going to put all of these things until tomorrow anyways?" the Forge Mage asked.

"I guess we could hide them somewhere on the way to the guild?" Alistar responded.

"The hell are you two up to?" the two men heard a voice ask, turning to see Arashi.

"Yo! Arashi! You look a little worse for wear," Rayner snickered as he saw the scraps covering the S-Class Mages body.

"I look better than you did after you got back from your mission!" the Aether Mage snapped.

"Hey Arashi? Mind helping us pull this along?" Alistar asked as he gestured to the cart behind him and Rayner.

"I suppose I could," Arashi muttered as he fell in step with the other two mages as they all dragged the cart along together, "What's all this for anyways?" he asked with a grunt.

"Salina's birthday party tomorrow," Alistar grunted in response.

"You sure that we needed so much though?" Rayner asked.

"Go big, or go home!" Arashi shouted.

"Exactly!" Alistar exclaimed, "It would be shameful for us to do any less for Salina's birthday party!"

"It looks like you've finished shopping then," they heard Camille say as she fell in step next to the cart.

"Yep! We're getting it all in one load too," Alistar grunted as he and the three men continued pushing the cart.

"Are you trying to impress someone or something?" Camille asked as she stared at the massive pile of supplies on the cart with a flat look, "It would be easier to get it all in multiple loads."

"That's what I said!" Rayner grunted.

"Please... This is nothing!" Alistar exclaimed as they started pulling the cart up a hill, the three men hardly making any progress in their struggle.

'It's not even that steep of a hill...' Camille thought as she continued giving them a flat stare, "Hold on," she muttered as she ran behind the cart and started pushing, giving the three the much needed boost they needed to get the cart up the hill.

"Thanks Camille!" Rayner exclaimed as they started moving at a normal pace again, the path to the guild beginning to come into sight.

"I'm going on ahead to see if Salina's at the guildhall," Camille stated, "If she's there, I'll make sure that she doesn't come down the path."

"All right, sounds good!" Alistar shouted as Camille ran ahead.

"Do you think that one of us should push from behind?" Arashi asked.

"It did seem to go a bit easier with someone pushing..." Rayner sweat-dropped.

"Why didn't we think of that?" Alistar sighed.

**. : + : .**

"And you're all set!" Salina said happily as she removed the magic stamp from the left side of Kimi's stomach, leaving a white guild mark, "You can claim one of the empty rooms in the male and female dorms. Of course you have to be in the male dorm, Styles, and you have to be in the female dorm, Kimi."

"What about that jungle?" Styles asked as he pointed to the jungle behind the guildhall, a black guild mark now adorning the right side of his neck.

"Oh, that's technically the guild's property since it's in the cove. And a few of the guild members do pass the nights by walking through the jungle."

"Are there animals in there?" he asked.

"Yes, is there a reason why there wouldn't be?" Salina asked, "I know that a few of the guild's mages train back there, but none of them would purposefully attack any of the animals unless they were attacked first."

"I'll be staying back there then," Styles said suddenly as he started walking towards the jungle.

"We'll... keep a room reserved for you I guess," Salina sighed, "I hope Arashi and Malon won't mind the company at night," she added as she looked over at Kimi, "Will you be staying in the dorm? Or do you want to stay with Styles?"

"I'll be staying in the dorm," Kimi answered happily, "I love animals and nature as much as Styles does, but I would like to have a place where I can always find some peace and quiet."

"The female dorm is much calmer than the male dorm," she explained as they heard what sounded to be an explosion coming from the male dorm, followed by the sound of Horace's coughing as he opened a window to let the smoke out, "See? It's a wonder that Ladon gets any sleep at all."

"Ahehehe...heh..." Kimi laughed before it turned into a sigh, "Does that happen often?"

"Horace blows up one of his experiments at least three times a week," Salina explained happily, "You'll get used to the explosions, pillars of fire, and yelling eventually."

"I... I see," Kimi sighed, 'Is this how all mage guilds are?'

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there it is! Chapter 22! There's one more chapter to this arc so we'll finish it up next time fore sure!

Also, next up is Salina's birthday party and I want to get every single character into it! So if anyone wants their OC(s) to interact with certain characters in the guild, tell me! And if you have an idea for what their doing, send that into me via PM.

Please remember to leave a review!

Your Host,

dreadburner94.


	27. Historical Omake: Camille and Euclid

**A/N: **Okay, I decided to postpone the next actual chapter since I originally felt like I needed more time to plan it, now it's because I've been busy and couldn't focus on this story, as well as me starting up a Fate story since it wouldn't get out of my head... and then I got the stomach flu (still sick actually)... fun... So in the meantime, since I said that I would be doing a Historical Omake because I felt like it, I'm continuing Camille's and starting another person's since I would need to write this part soon anyways and I already had a large portion of it planned out anyways. And for anyone thinking that continuing Salina's would make more sense, I'll get to that later.

Also, as a little bit of news. On the 23rd of August (just 4 days from now... yikes), I'll be heading off to College/University. So I can't guarantee that I'll be able to get chapters for any story out regularly, it'll be something that I'll only be able to do when I have the time. And since I'm going to be an Accounting Major, I have a lot of classes (a total of six different classes for the first half of the semester, it'll go down to five once the halfway point is reached) and I'll be working towards a goal of 150 credit hours, so it could take me longer than the normal four years to graduate even with a full schedule all four years. So what used to be my schedule of at least once a week (which I haven't kept up lately), is no longer relevant and I no longer have any set schedule. So I would appreciate it if no one asked "When is the next chapter?" because I'll be very busy in a few days and I'll only be able to tell you what I can now, the answer being, whenever I have the time for it. So, just to re-emphasize this, I no longer have a schedule, so please don't ask when future chapters will be published, chances are that I will not have an answer for you.

Now then, this part of Camille's Historical Omake is a rather special one since another character is featured as a very important character in it, so you'll be learning about two characters in the story this omake! However it is still treated as part 2 of Camille's Historical Omakes despite the different title.

So anyways, I'd like to thank WaterDragonMaverick, MyDearWatson, WrittenWhim, SaiyaStyles, GhostOfOnyx, PrinceOfTheMatrix88, ManhattanTheory, LightandDarkHeart, Asher Grey, Markg493, potentialauthor18, lexlovesya, PlaguedAmbition, and FrozenBlast13 for their reviews last chapter!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Yep, Proclus is one of the two people who have been with Euclid since near the beginning and you'll all learn what else Jellal had to say about the Info Broker and his agents later as well. And yeah, Jayne'll take anything that remotely seems like it might be a pairing and go crazy with it, once she learns of it of course. And yeah, Styles is still pretty wary of everyone in the guild, he may eventually move into the dorms, but time will tell on that. And the guild technically has two kitchens, one in each dorm, but neither of them are really that great and Sean has grown used to working in a professional kitchen over at 8-Island, but I'm sure he'll adjust. And I don't think that I'll be able to get to all of those ideas in the next chapter since every single character will be featured in it, but thanks for sending those in. And of course I saw both of the spin-off mangas the day they came out, those are Fairy Tail Zero and Fairy Tail Ice Trail for those of you who don't know. They both come out once a month in the Fairy Tail monthly magazine, but they should both prove to be very interesting to read since you get to learn more about Mavis in Zero (who is adorable as a six year-old) and Gray in Ice Trail.

**MyDearWatson- **Yep, the Kaizus are now part of the guild, whether they like it or not says the Magic Council and of course Camille would prove to be smarter than the three guys, I didn't even realize that it'd be easier to have someone pushing from the back as well until Camille showed up in the scene when I was writing. And you might remember that the guild has a Temperature Mage, so cold water is no problem with her around, plus in the omake I mentioned that Salina's mood made it abnormally warm for early April. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the omake!

**WrittenWhim- **I actually plan on writing a special omake all about Jean and his misadventures with the female population of the guild eventually, so yes, every girl in the guild has something against Jean for the most part. And I'm certain that something will make for a chaotic scene at the party next chapter.

**SaiyaStyles- **Yeah, I figured that Styles would be more at home in the jungle than in the dorms for now, and yeah, if there is anything that Jean is not, it's innocent. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the omake!

**GhostOfOnyx- **Well before the 7 Day Challenge, my chapters were more or less a weekly thing, which was my typical schedule, once a week. But now I can't make that promise anymore since I'll be heading off to college soon, so I have to place my education at a higher priority than my stories. And yeah, guild parties are typically rather crazy, so it should be interesting to see (and write). The sad thing is that I won't even be at my home when the cookie arrives, so even if the mailman/woman doesn't eat it, chances are that someone else will. A tragic fate that.

**PrinceOfTheMatrix88- **Yep, the next actual chapter will be a fun one and we'll finally get to move on to bigger and better things. And we may learn more about our favorite Info Broker soon... But anyways, I'm very happy to hear that you like how things have gone so much!

**ManhattanTheory- **Maybe... possibly... There might be cake, but it might be a lie... Sigh... I couldn't help myself. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the Omake!

**LightandDarkHeart- **Yeah, Kimi really has no idea how wild most legal guilds are, but anyways, I hope you enjoy the Omake!

**Asher Grey- **Yep, things are going pretty good for Euclid, just like he planned for the most part, I'm happy to hear that you like him as well, although, things didn't always run so smoothly for him... Yeah, I really racked my brain coming up with Leif's element of Salt and I'm pleased to hear that the story's been more or less original so far, it'd be rather distressing to hear that the story was somehow very similar to another one. Well speaking of omakes... here's another one! And yeah, I wonder who Celeste's father is? Hmm... Anyways, yeah, it makes perfect sense that two S-Class mages plus one more mage can't pull a cart up a not even steep hill, completely perfect sense.

**Markg493- **Yep, the next chapter is all about character interaction, which is something I've been wanting to do more of, so I've been looking forward to it as well. And well... you may learn something about Euclid soon...

**potentialauthor18- **Yep, a huge part of the next chapter will be getting characters that haven't interacted so much to interact, and yeah, the jungle is most definitely safer than the dorm. You have Horace regularly exploding his projects, the chance of waking up Ladon, Dragon Slayers, two guys that try to fight every time they see each other, God Slayers, and others... yeah, definitely safer in the jungle than in the male dorm. But anyways, thanks for sending in those ideas!

**lexlovesya- **Unfortunately I had to push the party back until I could focus on this story once again, but I'm determined to make it well worth the wait since that's why I postponed it in the first place. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the omake!

**PlaguedAmbition- **Yeah, the Kaizus had some different circumstances surrounding their joining of the guild, but yeah, it should be interesting. Anyways, I'm happy to hear that Euclid's becoming one of your favorite villains, he's here for the long-haul so you might as well like him (or try to). And Alistar is an S-Class Mage for a reason since he was made one before the guild had any exams or trials of any sort, so he was hand-picked by Salina, but yeah, there are some people in the guild that don't have much confidence in him. Well, I'll tell you that it's not the X790 GMG's next, it is preparation for them though, but I'll tell you all what the title of the next arc is next chapter, so no real hint for now since I can't think of any.

**FrozenBlast13- **The next actual chapter should be pretty relaxed as well, by that I mean no life or death situations, but I'm glad that you've enjoyed how the characters are written so far. I hope you enjoy the omake!

**Credits:**

**Cathair Lennon- dreadburner94**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy part 2 and part 1 of Camille's and Euclid's Historical Omake!

* * *

><p><strong>Historical Omake: Euclid and the Ealdwines<strong>

Euclid sat down the communication lachrima he had been using to talk with Wymond. Everything had been going according to plan so far.

"It's finally starting isn't it?" Euclid asked himself as his cat hopped onto his lap, "Finally... After two foiled attempts it'll finally happen..." he continued solemnly as he stroked his cat, "Marilynn Lindwyrm... Heh... Hehehehe... Hahaha!" the man began laughing maniacally as he brought his free hand over his eyes, "Finally! It's finally going to happen! And Undine's Cove is going to be the key to starting it all!" Euclid continued as he stood up, bringing his arms down to his sides as his cat quickly hopped off of him as it watched Euclid walk around his desk to examine the white chess piece he moved over to the black team, "And it's only fitting that you be my pawn... Camille," Euclid smirked darkly as he picked up the piece, "After all, you were there with that bitch, Quinn, when I was stopped the second time," he continued to mutter, "But I'm different now than I was then... Back then I was still Emil Gunvor... Heh, someone I can hardly even remember now. But he was just a fool and his cat, I'm different... Euclid's different!" he shouted before he suddenly fell quiet again, "I wonder... Is it fate that the Ealdwines keep getting in my way? Or just mere chance? But this time will be different. This time everyone in Fiore will dance to my tune. Every! Last! One!"

**June 17th, X784 in the Capital City of Crocus, the Lohr Dojo**

"All right!" Zander called out, "Today I want to see how good you guy's swordplay has gotten now," he announced from the middle of the training room that he, Camille, Jareth, and Lynn were standing in as he gestured to the wooden shinai on the wall behind him.

"But dad..." Jareth whined, the boy wearing a pair of dark baggy pants, a simple t-shirt, and a beanie, "Why can't we use real swords or learn some more magic?" he asked as he was swiftly bopped on top of his head with a shinai, "Ow!" he yelped as he looked up at the disappointed look on Zander's face.

"I've told you time and time again, you're not ready for real swords yet and swordplay is a key part of Gunblade Magic," Zander explained as he looked over at his niece, who was wearing a simple red t-shirt with white bandages wrapped around her forearms and a pair of black shorts, "And besides, physical conditioning is very important for your cousin's well-being, it also helps her to build up pain tolerance for when her magic acts up," he added, earning a 'humph' from Jareth, causing the redhead to roll his eyes at his son.

"Master," Camille interjected, the young girl wearing a simple black t-shirt with dark gray pants, her necklace hanging from her neck, "You say that you want to see how much our swordplay has improved, but there's three of us. Am I to spar against you then?"

"No, you'll be sparring against both Lynn and Jareth," Zander answered with a smirk, "It'll be a closer match that way."

"You're not suggesting that I fight both of them at the same time are you?" the young girl asked with a sigh, knowing what his answer would be.

"I am," the man responded as she thought he would, his smirk still plastered on his face.

"Dad! I'm certain that I can beat Camille on my own now! I don't need help!" Jareth shouted.

"Jareth..." Lynn sighed, "We've never even beaten her together. I don't think you'd win against her alone..." she explained, causing her cousin to sweat-drop as a mortified look crossed his face.

"I don't want to boast, Jareth," Camille began, "But Lynn's correct. You've never beaten me once, even when it's been two-on-one, so what makes you think that you can win now?"

"Ergh! I just know I'll win for sure this time! It's a gut feeling!" Jareth yelled, "So wipe that smug look off your face!"

Camille sighed as she turned towards Zander, "Master, may I?" she asked as the redhead let out a sigh before he grabbed two shinai off of the wall.

"Fine," Zander sighed, "It's not what I had planned for the day, but it's good for his ego to be knocked back down every once and a while," he added as he threw the shinai to Jareth and Camille, "All right then, it's the usual house rules. The first one to land three hits wins. The use of Bullet Magic and Gunblade Magic is prohibited. Any questions?"

"No let's get started already!" Jareth exclaimed as he took his stance, holding the shinai out in front of him with both hands.

"I understand the rules, Master," Camille answered as she took her stance as well, holding the shinai up to the left of her head with both hands.

"Okay then. Let's get out of the way, Lynn," Zander suggested as his niece ran over to his side as they walked towards one of the walls in the room, "You two may begin!" he called out as Jareth quickly took the initiative, charging at Camille with his shinai held above his head as he quickly swung it downward, Camille quickly side-stepping her brother's sloppy attack as she swung her wooden weapon horizontally, landing a powerful blow to Jareth's abdomen, sending the young boy flying through the air a couple of feet.

"That was a reckless charge, Jareth," Camille pointed out as she watched him gasp for air before picking up his weapon and standing back up.

"Sometimes charges like that pay off though," the younger boy countered, a smirk much like his father's on his face.

"Only in large-scale battles. A charge like that in single combat is only something an idiot would do," the girl retorted, her own smirk crossing her face as she watched Jareth grow agitated.

"What'd you say!?" he shouted as he charged at Camille.

"He's lost, hasn't he uncle?" Lynn asked as she looked up at Zander.

"He certainly let himself get angry, but whether that's a good thing or a bad thing depends on the person," he replied as he watched Jareth and Camille exchange blows, neither of them letting the other land any attacks until a crack was heard throughout the training room.

"There!" Camille shouted as she broke Jareth's shinai in two with a hard horizontal strike before landing two quick blows on him to end the match, "I believe that settles the match then," she said as she lowered the shinai.

"Like I thought then..." Zander muttered, "Jareth!" he called out as he caught his son's attention, "You're the type of person who shouldn't get angry in the middle of fight, like me. I had a situation just like the one you had now in a battle against a Dark Mage and I would've died if your mom wasn't there to save my arrogant ass."

"Hmph," Jareth huffed, crossing his arms as he sat cross-legged on the ground, still upset after his loss to Camille.

"You paying attention?" Zander asked as he walked over to his son before kneeling down next to him, placing one of his hands on Jareth's head, "This is important you know? Keeping a level head in battle can mean the difference in life or death in a fight."

"I understand," Jareth finally huffed as Zander looked over at Camille.

"And I didn't really think that you were the type to goad your opponents into becoming angry," he smirked as he saw a look of shame cross the young girl's face.

"I don't like to... But it was the quickest and most effective way to obtain victory against him," Camille admitted as Lynn walked over to Jareth, holding out a hand to help him up.

"Are you all right?" Lynn asked her cousin as she pulled him up off of the ground.

"Yeah I'm fine. It'll take more than three little hits to take me down!" Jareth boasted before his expression turned into a more caring one, "How about you? It was only a few days ago that you couldn't move."

Lynn softly smiled before she started to undo the bandages on her right arm, "I'm doing better today. See?" she said as she showed him her arm, which had a few blades protruding out of it like blood-stained scales, "There aren't as many as there were," she added as she began wrapping her arm back up.

"Master," Camille said quietly as she and Zander continued watching the two, "You still haven't told me how Lynn became like that," she stated as Zander's face fell.

"It isn't something that we should discuss around her," he responded as he tugged his beanie down over his right eye, "It isn't something I like to talk much about either... But I'll tell you what happened someday. When I think you're about ready to set out on your own, all right?"

"I understand, Master," Camille responded.

"Oi! Zander! You have a visitor!" they heard Jareth and Quinn's Grandfather, Christopher Lohr, bellow from the main hall.

"A visitor...?" Zander muttered, "Now who could..." the redhead started to ask as his face suddenly lit up, "Cathair!" he exclaimed, "That's right! He said that he would be visiting today!"

"Cathair?" Camille repeated with a confused look on her face.

"He's one of mine and Quinn's old teammates from Midnight Haven," Zander explained, "And since we're semi-active and our other two teammates are pretty much retired, that makes him the strongest mage in the guild asides for the Old Man. I think you'll like him well enough."

"Yeah, he's a real hard-ass like you, Camille," Jareth grumbled, Camille giving him a hard stare in response.

"Jareth!" Lynn hissed, "You shouldn't talk about Cathair or Camille like that."

"Hmph," the young redhead huffed.

"So I'm a 'hard-ass' now, eh?" they heard a deep voice ask from the entrance of the room they were standing in, the four of them looking over at the door to see Quinn, Quill, and Christopher with a tall, dark tan skinned man.

The man's name was Cathair Lennon, S-Class Mage of the Mage's Guild Midnight Haven like Zander and Quinn were. The man was very tall, standing at 6'7" with a muscular build and dark tan skin. He had slanted, dark gray eyes that carried a cold stare in them and thick and wild, black hair that fell all around his head to the base of his neck while covering his forehead, ears, and right eye, his bangs being long enough to fall down to his jawline. Cathair wore a long, black coat over a skin-tight black shirt with black jeans and boots, although he had left his boots at the door of the dojo. He also wore a black scarf around his neck that covered the lower half of his face and a pair of black, fingerless gloves that helped him grip the large, steel hammer that he had strapped to his back by a brown leather strap that crossed his torso.

"C-Cathair!" Jareth exclaimed in shock, the man clearing having overheard him.

"Feel free to give him a difficult training session if you want," Zander said suddenly, a smirk crossing his face, "He's rather determined to beat Camille here, and he's got a long way to go."

"D-Dad!" the young boy stammered, clearly a bit frightened of the tall man.

"Maybe tomorrow," Cathair responded, "I promised to help out Quill with his martial arts today," the man said with a small smile on his face as he patted Quill on the head before looking over at Camille, "So this is the girl you two took in?"

"Well it's more like Zander decided to take her in all on his own," Quinn sighed, remembering the day that her husband first brought the young orphan girl to the dojo, "But yes, this is Camille Arturia, she's one of the family now."

"I see," the man muttered in response before walking over to the young girl, "My name is Cathair Lennon, S-Class Mage of Midnight Haven and Jareth and Quill's godfather. I suppose that would make me your godfather as well then," Cathair added after he introduced himself.

Camille looked at the man, partly shocked by his good manners, "I'm Camille Arturia," the girl responded, "It's a pleasure to meet you," she added with a slight bow.

"I think you and I will get along just fine," the man said with a small smile, impressed with Camille's politeness when compared to Zander and Jareth's.

"Well then" Christopher announced suddenly, "Since Cathair will be helping Quill with his martial arts today, I'll be certain to give you an extra hard session later today, Jareth."

"What for!?" Jareth asked, knowing that he was in for a hard time later today if his grandfather was saying that.

"To teach you some respect for your elders and family," Christopher replied in a matter-of-fact tone, "It seems that you've forgotten your last lesson already," he added as his oldest grandson gulped nervously.

"I think you brought it on yourself, Jareth," Quill said quietly from his mother and grandfather's side.

"I don't want to hear that from you!" Jareth shouted as Quill stuck his tongue out at his older brother, knowing full-well that there was nothing Jareth could do about it since his parents, grandfather, and godfather were there.

"I'll train with Camille then," Quinn announced, "Since Cathair will be working with Quill, I think it'd be the perfect time to work on your martial arts some."

"I'm looking forward to the lesson," Camille said politely as Quinn pinched her forehead and sighed at the girl's excessive politeness.

"Guess that leaves you and me, Lynn," Zander smirked, "I wanted to work on your control with your magic today anyways now that you've recovered."

Lynn gave her uncle a nervous look for a moment before steeling herself as everyone else left the training room, "All right, uncle," she responded, her mind wandering a bit as she started to worry about losing control again.

"Hey, don't worry, all right?" Zander said suddenly as he noticed the concerned expression crossing Lynn's face, "It'll be all right."

"It's just... my magic... that thing's magic... can I really control it?" the young girl said bitterly.

Zander let out a deep sigh, nearly every time he had helped his niece work on her magic, the girl's confidence issues showed, "I know... We all know that you can learn to control your magic. But we'll have to work hard for it, all right?"

Lynn stayed silent for a moment, thinking about the day her magic was forced on her and the day her father died, 'What would father have said?' she silently asked herself, 'What would mother say?' she added as a determined look crossed her face, 'Mother said that she wanted to find the people who did this to me. She's determined to do what she can to make things right. So I should try too!' Lynn continued in thought, "All right, uncle!" the young girl exclaimed as she took her stance, ready to train.

**. : + : .**

"Are you sure we should be here of all places?" a black and white cat asked as it and a young man walked through the streets of Crocus.

The young man appeared to be about 18, standing at about 5'6" with a lean build and a light tan. His dark brown hair was worn in a slightly spiky style that covered his forehead, ending just above his slanted, dark blue eyes, as well as being cut around his ears, and falling to the nape of his neck. He wore a simple black t-shirt under a light gray jacket with black pants and black shoes.

"Emil!" the cat called out again after being ignored.

"Tch... What Corbin?" Emil growled, "Still upset that I forgot to leave you a way into our room at that last inn or something?"

"Emil..." Corbin said lowly, "We're in the heart of Fiore. Crocus! We shouldn't be walking around so aimlessly."

"I know! I know! Sheesh..." the young man sighed, "Look. I know that girl's here. In this city! And so long as we get our hands on her then everything that happened two years ago will be worth it! You won't have lost your body for nothing..."

"Emil... Look I know that you feel responsible for what happened to me, but if you just go after her without a plan then you'll just end up dead like everyone else!" the cat warned as it stared at Emil with it's purple and red eyes.

"A plan eh?" Emil muttered as he stopped in his tracks as he brought a hand up to his chin in thought, "Tch... What would get that man's attention away from her? I'd need some sort of distraction..." he mumbled before his eyes fell onto the cat, which was possessed by the spirit of a man named Corbin Llewelyn.

"What is it?" Corbin asked as he cocked his head out of curiosity.

"Are there any giant monsters around here?" Emil asked as a knowing smirk crossed his face.

"G-Giant monsters?" the cat asked, "I'm not sure... Perhaps one of the guard posts would have information on that?"

"The guards huh?" Emil repeated quietly to himself, "I don't think that they'd just answer that question if we asked them. Too bad there aren't any mage guilds in Crocus, they'd have the info," he sighed as a certain establishment crossed his mind, "Well I suppose there's always that casino, but then again, I don't think they'd like what I'm planning much. Plus, I don't want to be indebted to them anyways."

"So we'll be breaking into a guard post then?" the cat asked, it's compatriot giving him a large smirk in return.

**. : + : .**

**June 18, X784 in the Capital City of Crocus, the Western Guard Post**

The waxing moon shone brightly in the night sky, the clouds were few and far between so most would assume that a criminal would be insane to try anything that night, as bright as it was. But hardly anyone ever assumed that a guard would be in on a crime. In this particular case, however, one could only be half-right or half-wrong since the poor guard could not control his actions at the time.

He was just your average guard with an average name who had joined the city guard for an average reason, to simply put food on the table. Everything he did was average, including his ability to guard things, as he was one to fall asleep while on duty at night, an unfortunate mistake that no one should make around the spirit of Corbin Llewelyn since that is simply giving up one's right to control their own body.

"Emil!" Corbin hissed as he opened one of the more hidden doors of the guard post, "Over here!"

"Nice job," the rogue mage whispered as he entered the building, "I take it that you found the info?"

"More than just that," the spirit replied in a hushed tone through the guard's body, the eyes changing to be purple and red cat-like eyes, "The Fioran government keeps a large amount of records and information in a vault in this building's basement. It's nowhere near the size of the official library kept within the castle, but it is still an incredibly valuable amount of information."

"Heh," Emil smirked, "Guess we'll just take it all and look over it elsewhere then. I'll put it all in my requip space when we get there."

"Now we should discuss the security," the spirit stated, "There are several alarms and lachrima cameras down there, but this guard was incredibly forgetful apparently, so he had a map of the alarms so that he wouldn't set them all off while on patrol."

"Lucky us," the young man chuckled, "I guess we just need to find myself a uniform so I can get past the cameras without raising too much suspicion."

"There's an armory through that door there," Corbin stated as he pointed towards a wooden door, "It's part of the reason why I chose to let you in through here."

"I'll go grab some armor then," Emil replied as he entered the armory, quickly finding a set of guard armor to put on over his clothes, "All right, let's go," he whispered as he exited the armory, now wearing a full set of Fioran Guard Armor that included a full helmet that covered his face.

The two men quickly made their way to the basement, Corbin guiding them through the many alarms with perfect precision, leaving the many guards in Crocus none the wiser.

"We're here," Corbin announced as they walked past the last set of lachrima, which stood vigil in front of the vault door.

"Now how to open it?" Emil pondered, "This thing's sure to covered with alarms."

"Do you still have any of Wymond's Acid Salves?" the spirit asked, "If you have enough, we could melt through the floor under the door."

"Good idea as any I suppose," Emil shrugged as a flask filled with a yellow-green liquid appeared in his hand, "Here we go," he said as he poured the liquid onto ground in front of the door, quickly melting through it as he repeated the process until they had a nice little tunnel under the door, "Wait here," Emil ordered as he slid under the door, seeing the many safes, cabinets, and crates filled with sensitive information, "I'm sure that one of these have the info I want," he whispered as he looked through some of the files, "But I'm positive that there's plenty to learn from all of this," Emil added as he held out his hands, taking the many files into his requip space with a large amount of effort that left him in a cold sweat, "Now to get out of here," he panted as he slid back under the door.

"Ready to go?" Corbin asked as Emil pulled himself off of the ground.

"Yeah," Emil answered as they started their walk out of the basement.

**. : + : .**

**June 18th, the Capital City of Crocus, the Upper Ring of the City**

"So this is your ancestral home?" Cathair asked as he looked at the abandoned manor of House Arturia.

"Yes, it was my family's home up until the winter of X783," Camille explained, a sad expression on her face.

"I'm sorry for your loss if it's worth anything to you," Cathair added as he turned to the young girl and Zander, who was looking off in the distance, an unusually serious expression on his face, "That's right, you don't care much for being around nobility," Cathair recalled as he caught Zander's attention.

"Hm? Oh... Right," the redhead responded in a distracted tone.

"Master? Is something wrong?" Camille asked.

"Nah, it's just... I saw someone I'd rather I didn't," Zander answered grimly as he glanced back at the person he was staring down, a woman with green hair, "We should go," he said quickly as he started to leave the area, leaving Cathair and Camille behind.

"Master!" Camille called out as Zander kept walking away, "What's wrong?" she asked quietly.

"I'm not sure if I should answer that since you don't seem to know," Cathair said suddenly, "Zander's always enjoyed keeping his own privacy and not talking about a good portion of his past. So if he hasn't told you yet, I shouldn't say anything."

"So that's yet another thing that he won't tell me then..." Camille sighed.

"Camille. Don't hold it against Zander. He's cautious with what he tells people for a reason," Cathair explained, "He's been betrayed by people he's trusted in the past and he's watched people that he cared for die."

"It sounds like Master has been through a lot in his life then," Camille whispered, "But what was he like when he first joined Midnight Haven?"

"He seemed like a reckless idiot to me," Cathair chuckled, "Quinn thought so too, but as we got to know him he matured quite a bit. Although I'm certain that Quinn has far more stories about him than I do, she's the one he argued with and got into fights with all of the time after all. They're an odd couple, but I can't think of a pair more perfect for each other actually."

"What are you two whispering about?" Zander asked as the two caught up with him.

"Just about your many lover's quarrels with Quinn from back in the day," Cathair answered with a smirk as he and Camille watched a faint blush cross the redhead's face, "When was your most recent one?"

"Q-Quiet you!" Zander shouted, "Can't you talk about something else? Something that's actually worth talking about maybe?"

"At least he doesn't deny it anymore," Cathair sighed, a smile on his face nonetheless though.

**. : + : .**

**June 18th, X784, the Capital City of Crocus, Bar Sun**

Emil sat at one of the tables, looking over one of the many files he had taken from the vault the previous night. Many of the records were useful and valuable as Corbin had said, but Emil had yet to find the one he was looking for.

"I've been reading for hours now..." Emil groaned as he took another drink from the flask of alcohol he had ordered, grimacing as he swallowed the amber liquid, "Tsk... I guess it isn't surprising that a dump like this wouldn't have any wine," he muttered, "Not that I can actually afford any good brands right now... Although... I'm certain that I could sell some of this info for some high prices," Emil smirked, 'R-System eh? I think I heard a rumor about one of those towers still being built,' the young man thought as he brought a hand up to his chin, a loud sound suddenly bringing him out of his thoughts.

Emil turned his head to see a large man kick a small, young girl across the bar, the girl being dressed in only rags. She appeared to only be about eight or nine at the most. She was horribly thin and pale, her green eyes barely holding any life in them while her greasy, black hair fell all around her head in stringy locks.

"I told you not ta come near me again!" the large man bellowed as the young girl tried to get back up.

"B-but... my mommy died... she told me that you'd take care of me," the young girl sniffed, "She said th-that you're my daddy."

"Bullshit!" the man screamed as he planted another hard kick into the young girl's side, sending her even farther across the floor, "A kid as puny as you couldn't be my kid! And besides... you're mum was probably just some cheap whore," the man snickered as he watched tears well up in the girl's eyes.

Emil was about to walk away until he heard the young girl start wailing, the man continuing to mock her and her dead mother, "This is why people are disgusting," Emil grunted before falling silent, "But also fascinating... What drives another man to mock a poor girl can drive another one to take pity on her..." he whispered as he clenched his fist, sending the file he was reading into his requip space, "Curse Magic: Brittle Bone," Emil muttered as he walked past the man, brushing into him as the man suddenly felt weak, "I'm sorry, did I bump into you?" Emil quickly asked as he turned on his heel with a wicked smile as he kicked the man's left thigh bone, snapping it half as the man fell to the ground.

"Fuck!" he screamed as he impacted with the ground, feeling all of the bones in his left side break and shatter.

"Oh my? What happened to you?" Emil asked as he stomped on the man's right hand, disintegrating the bones in it, causing the man to scream again, "Maybe the bad karma you picked up from hurting that girl caught up with you?" the young man suggested with a cruel smirk on his face, "I'd tell you to get lost, but you're in no shape to go anywhere and moving you would only cause more harm than good," Emil stated as the man passed out from pain, "Now then," he added as he looked over at the young girl before walking over to her and kneeling down, "What's your name?"

"O-Ora Burns..." the small girl answered, with a sound of slight awe in her voice, "Did... did you stop him from talking bad about mommy?" she asked.

"Yep," Emil answered happily, knowing full well that the man would never walk again and that he may potentially even die, "He'll never say mean things about you or your mom again."

"... Thank you," the girl whispered, the look on her face suggesting that she wanted to say more.

"What is it?" Emil asked, a kind smile on his face.

"Um... what's your name?" the small girl asked, a faint blush on her face.

"Hehe... Emil Gunvor," he answered happily.

"Um... Mr. Emil... D-do you mind if... if I come with you?" Ora asked timidly, scared of being rejected again.

Emil studied the girl for a small moment before closing his eyes and sensing the potential Ora held, '… She can be a mage... a powerful one at that,' Emil thought to himself before he opened his eyes and smiled kindly again, "Of course you can. But we'll be traveling a lot I think," he answered as he watched Ora's face light up with a bright smile.

"I can!? Really!?" she asked.

"Of course! I'll have to introduce you to someone first and I'll warn you now that he's a bit of a stick-in-the-mud, so he might be a bit grumpy when I tell him that you're coming with us," Emil explained.

"It's okay! What's he like?" Ora asked happily.

"He's a cat," Emil answered simply, confusing the young girl.

**. : + : .**

**June 18th, X784, the Capital City of Crocus**

"Emil..." Corbin said lowly, "Who is this?"

"Ah, this is Ora Burns," the smirking young man answered simply.

"Why is she here?" Corbin asked, his patience thinning.

"I brought her," Emil answered in once again a simple manner.

"I can see that, but why?"

"Because I wanted to."

"How is that a reason!?" the cat yelled, "We can't take a child with us! She's slow and useless! Not to mention she's another mouth to feed."

"Now, now Corbin," Emil chuckled as he picked up the cat by the back of it's neck, holding him up to his face, "She has the potential to be a mage," he whispered, "That and what's one more mouth once we start selling that info? We'll be rich!"

"Gr... that's true, but still..." the cat grumbled as Emil brought him face to face with the young girl.

"Ora, this is Corbin. Corbin, this is Ora" Emil said as he introduced the two.

"A talking cat..." Ora gasped in awe.

"Now then," Emil said as he brought Corbin back up to his level, "Did you find anything in the files I gave you to look over?"

"Yes, there's a rather large serpent a few miles from the city," Corbin answered, "Some mages tried to take it down, but none of them came back."

"That'll work if you can make it tunnel it's way here," Emil smirked.

"Why're you looking for a giant serpent?" Ora asked, a curious look on her face.

"Well..." Emil started as he thought about how to explain his actions, "We're looking for something in Crocus, but we're not exactly allowed to take it since it's not ours."

"So you're going to steal?" the young girl asked.

"Steal is a harsh word... we prefer to say that we're borrowing without permission," Emil chuckled, "So we need the giant monster to distract the people who have the thing we're looking for since it was ours to begin with, but they took it from us and killed some of our friends."

"They sound like bad people..." Ora said quietly, furrowing her brow.

"Yeah, they're pretty bad people all right. In fact, Crocus is filled with a lot of bad people so the serpent might kill some of them and make the city a better place," the rogue mage explained with a sinister smirk, thoroughly pleased with how his explanation had come along.

"So you and Kitty are gonna make it a better place?" she asked, Corbin grumbling at being call a kitty.

"Exactly! Crocus is going to be a much better place after we finish here."

"You should hurry then... Is there anything I can do to help?" Ora asked sincerely.

"Hm... I know! I need you to look after Corbin while I go into the city after the giant monster shows up," Emil explained, "Can you do that for me?"

"Yeah!" Ora answered happily, "But won't it be dangerous for you?" she suddenly asked, a concerned look on the girl's face.

"Haha! Don't worry, Corbin'll make sure that the serpent doesn't attack me," he answered, "He'll be controlling it so you have to watch over him while he does that, all right?"

"Okay," Ora answered as the cat's eyes changed back to normal as a crow flew off in the direction of the serpent.

**. : + : .**

**June 19th, X784, the Capital City of Crocus, the Lohr Dojo**

Camille awoke with a start, hearing a loud boom from somewhere in the city that faded into rumbling, like a building was falling down.

"Is that... screaming?" she groggily asked herself as she pulled herself out of bed to look out of the window, seeing a large, eight-headed serpent in the distance, within the city walls, "What is that?" Camille gasped before running out of her room to Zander and Quinn's, seeing the two mages awake, already beginning their preparations for a hard fight.

"Any idea what sort of monster that is?" Quinn asked as she fastened her white, leather belt, ensuring that her sais were in place.

"It has eight heads, so that means that it's either a hydra or a Yamato-no-Orochi. And since we're far away from the sea, that makes it the latter," the redhead answered as he closed the encyclopedia on beasts he was holding, "On the bright side we don't have to worry about it regenerating..."

"And on the bad side we have to fight something from the ancient times. Great," the auburn haired woman added sarcastically.

"Actually... Quinn, I want you to get your dad and the kids to safety first," Zander said quietly as Cathair walked into the room, passing by Camille.

"What!?" she shouted, "Hell no! The city's getting torn apart and you want me to run away!?"

"He didn't say that Quinn," Cathair interrupted, "He just wants to make sure that your father and the children are safe. I don't believe he said anything about you not coming back after you secured their safety."

"That's right," Zander added, "Please, just make sure that they're all safe first and then you can come back and help."

"I..." Quinn started to argue back before letting out a sigh, "Fine... But listen you!" she shouted as she jabbed a finger into Zander's chest, "Make sure you come back without a scratch, all right?" she said as her finger dropped down from his chest as she wrapped her arms around him.

"I promise," Zander responded as he returned the gesture, "All right, now get them to safety," he added as the two separated, Quinn taking Camille's hand on her way out.

"Come on! We have to go find my dad and the rest of you kids," Quinn stated as she pulled Camille through the dojo, "Dad!" she exclaimed as Christopher came up next to the two.

"What's going on Quinn!?" he asked.

"A giant snake is attacking the city and I'm getting all of you to safety before going to help Zander and Cathair," she explained quickly, "Can you go get Lynn while we go get the boys?"

"Right, of course!" he responded as he ran off towards Lynn's room.

"Momma!" they heard Quill cry from his and Jareth's room as they got closer to it.

'Shit! Their room has a window in the direction of the snake,' Quinn cursed in her head, "Hold on!" she called out as she and Camille ran into the boy's room, "Don't worry Quill, I'm here... I'm here," she whispered as she picked up her youngest son.

"What is that thing!?" Jareth asked, the young boy obviously frightened, but having still been brave enough to have taken care of his brother until Quinn had arrived.

"Master said it was a Yamato-no-Orochi," Camille answered, "He and Cathair are going to fight it right now!"

"Well if anyone can kill something like that, it's my dad!" Jareth exclaimed proudly as he picked up his beanie and put it on.

"All right, let's go find your grandfather and cousin so we can get you all to safety," Quinn announced as she walked out of the room with Camille and Jareth following her while she carried Quill.

"Quinn!" Christopher called out as he and Lynn ran towards them all, Lynn was clearly frightened by the serpent and her magic was easily making that known as small blades were beginning to cut through the bandages on her forearms, as well as through her shoulders, as her magic responded to the sense of danger she was feeling.

"Lynn! Are you all right?" Quinn asked as soon as she saw her niece's condition.

"I'll be fine..." Lynn grunted, the young girl obviously in great pain as there was the horrible noise of metal scraping against metal every time she moved.

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to hold out until you get to safety," Quinn apologized as she started moving towards the exit, "Follow me!" she ordered as she led the group out of the dojo and into the streets of Crocus.

**. : + : .**

"Look at the size of that thing," Zander gawked as he and Cathair got close to the giant serpent, "And it's already wiped out at least several platoons of soldiers," he observed as he looked around at the many bodies of unmoving soldiers lying amongst the rubble.

"God only knows just how many it's already eaten," Cathair growled as pulled his hammer off of his back, "I suggest you bring out a sword now."

"Right," Zander responded as he held out his left hand, "Twilight Sliver!" he announced as a dark steel katana appeared in his hand, the weapon having a burgundy cloth tied around it's black handle as well as a darkness lachrima implanted into it's pommel, "Gunblade: Load!" he called out as the magic interface appeared around the weapon's hilt, showing it to be fully loaded at 30 charges, "I'm ready."

"Let's go then," Cathair suggested as he resumed running towards the large serpent, Zander following him, "You hit it first Zander!"

"Got it!" the redhead called out as he climbed up on top of a building, holding his sword up into the air at an angle, "Gunblade: Bombing Run!" he announced as 20 ticks disappeared from his magic display as the same amount of darkness magic projectiles shot up into the air before raining down on the Yamato-no-Orochi, each exploding on contact, "That'll get it's attention," he muttered as the eight-headed serpent turned it's attention on Zander, it's purple and red, cat-like eyes locking onto him as one of it's heads lunged at the man.

"Gravity Magic: Grand Hammer Carnival!" Cathair announced as he slammed his hammer upwards into the jaw of the monster, sending it flying away from Zander with a gravity-enhanced strike as the redhead reloaded, "I'll keep it away from you, so hit with all you've got Zander!"

"Flamberge!" Zander shouted as a steel broadsword with a red cloth tied around it's handle and a fire lachrima embedded in it's pommel appeared in his right hand, "Load! Artillery Strike!" he announced as he sent a darkness and a fire projectile flying towards the monster, both exploding upon impact as two of the monsters head flew back from the force of the blow "Tsk... I can push it back but this thing's hide is tough."

"It's a fight of attrition then!" Cathair yelled as he prevented the lunge of another head.

"Come on Quinn... hurry," Zander pleaded as he readied his next attack.

**. : + : .**

"We're almost there!" Quinn called out to her family behind her, "The shelter should be right around this..."

"What's wrong Quinn?" Christopher asked as he and the kids came to a stop next to his daughter, seeing the smirking man leaning next to the shelter's entrance, "Who are you!?"

"My name?" the man asked, "Heh, I'm certain that the Memory Take mage there would be able to rip it from my head if she wanted to and I don't really see the reason for telling you."

"Dad... take the kids and run," Quinn ordered in a serious tone as she handed Quill over to her father.

"Quinn, I can't just leave you!" Christopher objected.

"I said go!" she yelled, "This guy isn't here for a chat so get going!"

"... All right," the older martial artist conceded, "Let's go!" he ordered as he and the kids ran off.

"Christopher..." Camille muttered as they ran, "Do you want me to stay and watch the fight?" she asked as the man came to a stop.

"In all honesty... yes... I do," he admitted, "I know that my daughter can take care of herself, but there's still the chance that she'll need a helping hand."

"Then let me go back too!" Jareth exclaimed.

"No Jareth!" Camille shouted, "You need to go with Christopher."

"Why?" the redhead asked, "You're not the boss of me!"

"Jareth listen... I need you here. Look at Lynn, she can barely move right now so you have to protect her! If you go back with me then there'll be no one to protect them," Camille explained.

Jareth let out a sigh, "All right... I'll go with them."

"Thanks," Camille said before she started running back to where Quinn was fighting, seeing that she had already started fighting with the man, both of them testing out each other's martial arts.

"For all that talk earlier you're sure not holding up well!" she shouted as the man barely managed to dodge a strike from Quinn's sai.

"I'm just getting started you know," the man grunted as he clenched his teeth, "Curse Magic: Sleeping Nerves!" he announced as he grabbed Quinn's arm as she swung one of sais, the woman instantly feeling the effect of the man's magic as she lost feeling in her left arm.

"Tsk," Quinn grunted as she quickly put the sai in her right hand away since she had dropped the sai in her left hand, "Memory Take: Ice Shotgun!" she yelled as she thrust her right fist forward, sending out a storm of icicles towards the man, taking him by surprise as he narrowly managed to dodge the ice, "Ice Field!" Quinn yelled as she slammed her right hand on the ground, refusing the man to have a moment to recover as icicles began shooting out of the ground as it froze over.

"Dammit!" the man cursed as he managed to dodge the icicles, but slip on the ice.

"Wind Glider!" she announced as she jumped into the air, landing on a board of wind before flying towards her opponent.

"Curse Magic!" the man started to announce as Quinn realized that he may have far more nastier spells up his sleeves.

'Looks like I don't have much of a choice...' Quinn thought to herself as she reached out her right hand, "Memory Take: Extraction of One!" she shouted as she grabbed the man's right shoulder as she stared into his eyes with a mesmerizing look that he just couldn't pull away from.

Quinn felt the rush of memories hit her quickly as she took the man's Curse Magic from him, memory after memory went through her mind as she figured out the man's identity and what he'd done.

"Emil... Gunvor..." Quinn panted as she let go of the man, staring him down as the equally tired out man scrambled away from her, "You're one of the people... who did that to Lynn... It's your fault her father's dead!

"I..." Emil gawked as he tried to remember the event, quickly realizing that he couldn't remember the outcome of it very well, "Dammit," he cursed as he realized that Quinn had taken his magic and memories, 'She's still exhausted... I guess I have that magic up my sleeve, but I can't really keep this up after that,' Emil thought as he stood back up, pulling a red gem from his jacket pocket before throwing it at Quinn, "Gem Magic: Fueur Ein!" he announced as his gem got shot out of the air by a small, gold bullet of magic.

"Quinn!" Camille shouted, the girl extending her left hand like a gun, "Are you all right?"

"Heh... Thanks to you I am," she responded, her last spell had clearly exhausted her since she now had to sort through new memories, "Now I just need to finish him off!" she hissed as she focused her attention back on Emil, who had pulled out more gems.

"You're welcome to try," Emil panted, "But if you think that you can get past or stop all of these I wouldn't recommend it. So what's it gonna be? Are you going to try and attack? Or will you let me go?"

Quinn stared Emil down for a moment, if it had just been her she would've tried it, but since Camille was there... "Fine... Leave! Hurry up before I change my mind!" she shouted as Emil wasted no time in running.

**. : + : .**

"Just one more push until he's next to the wall Cathair!" Zander shouted as he shot off a salvo of darkness imbued magic.

"Got it!" Cathair shouted back as he pulled back his hammer, "Gravity Magic: Supreme Hammer Festival!" he announced as he put every last bit of magic power into his spell, the strike sending the eight-headed serpent flying through the city wall, "Zander! Now!" he called as Zander leapt into the air as brought every sword in his possession out as he used his knowledge of telekinesis to suspend himself and his blades in the air.

"Gunblade: Overload!" Zander announced as he filled each of his swords with magic power to the brim, "Now... The War Goddess's Path!" he screamed as each of the swords unleashed the magic power they were storing in the form of a powerful blast of magic that completely enveloped the Yamato-no-Orochi, leaving nothing but a ruined path that stretched on for miles from Zander's position, "Got ya," the redhead smirked as he and his swords fell from their suspended position in the air, the weapons fading back into Zander's requip space as they hit the ground.

Cathair stared out at the long, ruined path left by Zander's last spell, ensuring that there was no possibility of the beast surviving. Once he was satisfied, he walked over to Zander and helped him stand back up, "You all right?" he asked as the redhead nearly lost his balance.

"Yeah, that spell just takes a lot out of me, especially when I overload it," Zander grunted as he straightened up, "I'll be fine."

"Zander! Cathair!" the two men heard Christopher call out, the both of them looking over to see Christopher, the kids, and Quinn walking towards them, Quinn holding her head like she had a bad headache.

"Quinn!" shouted as he realized what she might of done to get that headache, the man running over to her, "Did you do what I think you did?" he asked hastily as he reached her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"I just used Extraction of One, don't worry," the woman mumbled as she rested her head on Zander's shoulder, "But there are a lot of memories I need to sort through, so let's go home and meditate."

"All right, let's," the redhead agreed as he quickly picked Quinn up bridal style.

"Zander!"

"You're not in the best of shape for walking you know, so focus on sorting your new memories," he suggested with a smirk as he started walking.

"You look pretty worn out yourself," she pouted, but not fighting him any longer since she knew that Zander wouldn't be taking 'no' for an answer this time since she had taken someone's memories and magic, "Hey Zander," she called out after they had been walking for about ten minutes, "I need to talk to you about something important after I sort through these memories... It's about those people who did that to Lynn," she explained in a whisper, watching a shocked look cross Zander's face, a hundred questions crossing through the man's mind from what she could tell.

**. : + : .**

"Mr. Emil! Mr. Emil! Are you all right?" Ora asked in a panicked state after she watched the man collapse in front of her.

"Oi Emil!" Corbin shouted now that he was back inside the body of the black and white cat, "Wake up!"

"Ergh..." the young man grunted as he lifted himself off of the ground, "Sorry Corbin... but the name Emil Gunvor rings awfully hollow now that I can barely remember a good portion of my life."

"Emil! Now's not the time for being cryptic! What happened?" the cat asked in a demanding tone.

"A Memory Take Mage if my faulty memory serves correctly. Things were going well but..." he explained until he grasped his head in pain.

"Don't tell me she took your Curse Magic... You spent a good portion of ten years learning that!"

"I think that's the one... I can barely remember how you ended up like that now... but I remember what we were doing and why," Emil explained, "But I don't feel like Emil Gunvor at all anymore and whoever he was, he was an idiot.

"If your not Emil anymore than who are you?" Corbin asked while Ora just watched the scene with a curious look.

"I'm a different person now I think... That Memory Take mage took the identity of Emil," he shrugged as he opened his requip space and brought out the file he was looking over at Bar Sun before his memory got fuzzy there, "This relic... It's named after a scholar so I suppose that'll work. I'm Euclid now and I think I want to open up an information business to get what I want. Yes... Euclid will be an Information Broker I think."

"Euclid, eh?" the cat mused, "Well then, if your new name means 'Great Glory', then I shall be 'Before Glory'," the cat announced, "Corbin's body died two years ago, so I'm Proclus now."

"Now then," Euclid mumbled before turning to Ora, "You can still come with us if you want, but I don't really remember how we met all that well anymore unfortunately. It's going to be very dangerous though."

Ora stood silently for a little while, deciding what she wanted to do, "Aurora..." she responded shyly.

"What was that?" Euclid asked.

"I said I'm Aurora now!" she shouted with a determined look on her face.

"All right then, Aurora, I take it that means you want to come with us then?"

"Can I?" Aurora asked nervously.

"Of course you can, but it's going to a hard journey," Euclid explained as Aurora quickly hugged him, "All right... I won't try to talk you out of it anymore," he sighed as he patted the girl on the head, "Proclus! Our first step is to sell some of this information and get ourselves established as the best Information Agency in all of Fiore! To do that, we're going to need agents and spies, as well as more information to work with! I don't want anybody to be able to say that they're a match for Euclid and his agents when it comes to gathering and selling info!"

"What are you going to do about that girl with our relic though?" Proclus asked.

"Emil was a fool since he thought that he needed the relic she had in her close by in order to wake it up, but I'm going to start a conflict so large that it won't have any choice but to awaken and that will answer our question," Euclid explained with a smirk on his face, "After that, we'll shape the world as we see fit and answer our second question. But... we'll need some way to keep everything else at bay and something to trigger the conflict that we'll need..."

"It sounds almost like you want to take the world for yourself, Euclid," Proclus chuckled.

"Proclus, please. I'm just a scholar who wants to answer two questions in his lifetime. What will humanity be like at it's end? And what will they be like in a new beginning?" the young man replied with a knowing smirk on his face.

**. : + : .**

**July 3rd, X784, in the Capital City of Crocus**

"Can you believe what Fairy Tail has done this time!?" a man grumbled.

"What? What'd they do?" a gossiper asked quickly.

"Their Salamader, Natsu Dragneel, went and wrecked Hargeon Town's port last night!"

"Natsu did what!?" the gossiper squealed, clearly a bit too excited.

"Think that guild could do something useful for a change!? All they do is break stuff!"

"Master..." Camille muttered as she and her family walked through the streets of Crocus, Lynn having recovered from her magic acting up during the attack on Crocus.

"Hm?" the redhead hummed, "What? You think it's bothering me that everyone's talking about Fairy Tail again?"

"I just think that they should be a bit more grateful," Camille sighed.

"Don't worry about it Camille. We got a letter from Cathair saying that Midnight Haven has received far more job requests in the past few weeks than they have for a while," Quinn stated as they approached the dojo.

"Speaking of job requests. Cathair wrote that the Old Man asked if Quinn and I could tackle an S-Rank mission for him. So if you could look after everything for a few weeks Christopher..." Zander started to request.

"Say no more," Christopher demanded as he quickly picked up both Quill and Camille with a tight hug, "We'll be just fine, right?" he asked the two of them.

"Yeah!" Quill agreed happily while Camille simply wore a flat expression in response to the open display of affection, Jareth laughing at her.

**. : + : .**

**April 8th, X790, Euclid's Office**

Euclid sat as his desk, the chair turned around to face the window behind the desk so that he could watch the sunset. He was in a rather nostalgic mood, which was a strange occurrence for him since he couldn't remember a large portion of his life well.

"Euclid," he heard Aurora call out in her usual dull tone, something that always caused the Information Broker to feel a tinge of guilt.

"Hm?" Euclid hummed as he turned his chair around so that he could see his young associate.

"I have Proclus and Rhiannon's latest report for you," Aurora began as she opened one of the folders she was carrying, "Proclus has successfully infiltrated Mercurius and has obtained new information on the Eclipse Gate. He believes they are doomed to fail if things keep going the way they have."

"Heh, I take it their contact is still playing them like fools then?"

"Yes. He seems to have a great deal of Princess Hisui's trust."

"Hahahaha! That's rich!" Euclid laughed as he brought a hand up to his forehead, the man continuing to laugh.

"Are you not concerned?" Aurora asked, "Your goals will be compromised if the Eclipse Gate opens."

"No... I'm not concerned. From what Rhia's told me about the Eclipse Gate, there's a good chance that what I want will still happen if the gate is opened at the right moment," the info broker explained, "And I don't think she was lying about it either."

"And what will you do if the rumor of the 10,000 dragons proves to be true?"

"Let them come... I've prepared for that as well," Euclid smirked as he glanced down at the safe beneath his desk, "And besides, that would be a victory for us too."

"I see..." Aurora muttered as she decided not to question the man, "Onto Rhiannon's report then..."

"How's she liking her new assignment?"

"She seems to enjoy it more than her past ones... But the risk of betrayal runs high by putting her so close to someone she's aided in the past," the young girl explained as she opened Rhia's folder, Euclid merely smirking in response, "This was her report," Aurora muttered as she set the folder containing Rhia's report on Euclid's desk.

"Nothing to report," Euclid read as he opened the folder, swiftly closing it as he finished.

"Euclid..."

"Now, now Aurora. You know that Rhia's always been... concise with her reports," the info broker chuckled, "Although Rhia's one of the few things that can actually get you to show a bit of emotion anymore..." Euclid pointed out as he suddenly fell silent, a feeling of guilt washing over him, "Aurora... Do you remember the day we first met?"

"Of course I do, Euclid," Aurora answered concisely, the young girl being used to hearing this question come from the older man when he felt guilty, "Euclid. The choice to learn Spirit Tracker Magic was my own. I knew what it would cost me and the pros outweighed the cons."

"I know, I know," Euclid sighed, in truth, he knew that it was her choice since he tried to talk her out of it, but he still felt guilty that he had let her go through with it, "Well then..." Euclid began as he stood up and walked to the window behind his desk, "We've got a whole country to mess around with. Let's see what trouble we can stir up."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there you have it! The longest chapter/omake yet by far. It's about 21 pages long and over 11,000 words... So I hope you enjoyed it!

Anyways, I'll have the next actual chapter up when I can!

Please remember to review!

Your host,

dreadburner94.


	28. Mix'N'Match Story Arc

**A/N: **Okay, a bit of an explanation first, due to my being unable to think of anything for the birthday party chapter and my dwindling time, I'm putting the birthday party chapter on hold for a while but I will come back and do it as an omake later on since I only have four days to get out three chapters due to college and there are a few important little scenes in there that expand on different characters relationships with each other. And for those of you who read Thunder Stone, you are aware of the fact that I challenged MyDearWatson to post as many chapters as possible by the 5th of October and they managed to get three, so that's why I have to get three chapters posted by the 14th. So I'm moving on to the start of the next story arc (which is the third arc, the introduction arc and the first missions arc being arcs one and two) which I have titled as the Mix'N'Match Arc! Oh, and the idea for this story arc originally came from WrittenWhim, so thanks to them for that!

I'd like to thank GhostOfOnyx, WaterDragonMaverick, Guest, WrittenWhim, MyDearWatson, LightandDarkHeart, ManhattanTheory, lexlovesya, and FrozenBlast13 for their reviews last chapter!

**GhostOfOnyx- **I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the omake! And yeah, they've been keeping me busy for the past month, although I have had time to work on one of my other stories which is Fate/Star Island (shameless self-advertising I know).

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Well, I'll try and work on my stories as much as I can, but college... but yeah, the omake was pretty action and information packed, although there's still more to learn about Emil Gunvor and Corbin Llewellyn before they became Euclid and Proclus. And yeah, as a lost magic, Spirit Tracker magic forces it's user to pay a heavy price, being the near complete loss of emotions. And well, since Norman is very much a large part of Zander's past, that particular event happened in this story's Zander's past as well (for anyone who's curious about that, go check out Thunder Stone! In which that gets addressed), but with some different people in it obviously. And at least Cathair and Zander had enough sense to get the monster to the edge of the city before causing said collateral damage. And yeah, Euclid doesn't like the Ealdwines much, they seem to have this habit of getting in his way.

**Guest- **Wow! I'm flattered to hear you say that! I hope you enjoy all of the chapters/omakes as much as the ones that you've read so far! That's if you haven't already gotten up to this point, in which case, I hope you enjoy the chapter! Oh! And if you haven't already, go check out Thunder Stone, Angel's Breath, and Phoenix Refuge by MyDearWatson, Master of Anime224, and lexlovesya respectively!

**WrittenWhim- **I'm happy to hear that you found the omake so interesting! And yeah, Camille and Euclid have a "sort of" connection. Although Camille doesn't connect the name Euclid to Emil Gunvor at all, she might recognize him if she sees him though (which is why they probably won't meet face to face for a while). And yeah, I didn't fully explain how and why Proclus is a cat most of the time in this last omake, simply because Camille had nothing to do with it. Her parents were still alive when that happened. A Historical Omake for Lynn would explain what happened, but since she's not a part of Undine's Cove, we probably won't be getting one of those this story.

**MyDearWatson- **I'm happy to hear that you loved the omake so much! To the point of leaving you a bit speechless even! Yep, when Euclid was younger, he was a bit more reckless, Proclus is more or less the same though since he's the older of the two, being middle-aged if his body was still alive. And yep, the memories Quinn took from Emil weren't entirely pleasant ones, still better than Norman's though and by this point she knows how to deal with the memories. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**LightandDarkHeart- **Yep, I shed some light on how Euclid came to be Euclid, although what he was up to afterward and before is still a large mystery to you all for the most part. And well, we can just say that Euclid is basically the root problem of all of Lynn's troubles, as for what exactly happened to her, I'll save that for later. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**ManhattanTheory- **Yeah, 11,000 words took me quite a while to write out, but I think all the hard work and effort I put into that omake was worth it, plus it helps that it was a historical omake since I really enjoy writing those. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy the chapter!

**lexlovesya- **Yep, that's how it typically works, you get one question answered, but it just leaves you with 10 new ones. And I've been kept rather busy, especially as of late, but I am at least determined to not fail a challenge that I've initiated. After all, how hard could it be compared to the Seven Day Challenge? Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**FrozenBlast13- **Yeah, although it's more like Euclid has a history with the Ealdwines more than Camille, although she might recognize him if she saw him (which like I said, is probably why they won't meet face to face for a while). But I suppose Emil did not get what he wanted, Euclid however, saw a way to make it work without having what he wanted close by. And yeah, in that omake, those three were all in their early/mid-thirties, so they're quite experienced. In the present, they're in their mid/late-thirties. Although Cathair is the only one of them that's still a fully active mage out of all their old team.

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Story Arc 3: Mix'N'Match<strong>

**Chapter 23**

**May 4****th****, X790, Undine's Cove**

"The Grand Magic Games," Salina mused as she looked out at the waves from behind the bar. The Games were about two months away and she still wasn't certain if she was going to enter her guild into the event, "Who would I even choose?"

"Choose for what?" the Guild Master heard someone ask, Light Hikari walking up to the bar with Rakki, Varic and Haru behind her.

"Oh, Light," Salina muttered as she noticed how the four of them had been going on missions together ever since she had forced them all onto a team a few months ago, "That's it!" she exclaimed suddenly, surprising her mages, "Wait here!" Salina ordered as she ran out from behind the bar to see how many of her mages she could find.

"Where's she going?" Varic asked with a shocked look on his face.

"I'm not sure," Haru sighed, "But I'm worried that she has a strange idea in her head," she added as Light, Varic and Rakki all nodded in agreement with a sigh.

**. : + : .**

Salina was very pleased at the moment. She was looking at every last one of her mages from the platform on the second floor of the main building, although getting some of them to come to the meeting was a struggle, but that was beside the point.

"All right everyone, listen up!" she called out, silencing the conversations happing between the mages, "I'm certain that all of you are aware that the Grand Magic Games are about two months away and I have decided to enter the guild for the first time this year!"

There were many cheers from the mages upon hearing this. Several of the members had been asking for the past few years when Salina would enter the guild into the games, although she had always either said that she was still concerned for Hargeon or that she felt that the guild wasn't ready yet.

"However!" Salina shouted, silencing the cheering, "In order to prepare you all for the games I've decided to start a team building exercise. I'm going to put you all on random teams of three and then send you on missions. Also, I won't be separating you from your Exceed partners, or wolves," she added as she looked over at Styles before continuing, "After all of the missions are complete, I will be selecting five of you to form the team and then one or two of you to act as reserves. So don't worry if I don't pick you right away. Okay, the teams are as follows! So listen up!" she shouted in order to silence the conversations, "Camille Arturia, Jace Maverick, Rave, Light Hikari and Rakki! Rayner Casimir, Kiyeda Hasanari, Ajax Cruz and Leon! Miriam Krozenbell, Ziv McSolas and Jayne Satsuki! Reno Lozier, Zain McSolas and Wilhelm! Aspen Weathercroft, Kaiyo Atasume, Sean Clement and Jean! Malon Qoun, Jewul Poe Andi and Alistar Thorn! Horace Quinn, Kimi Kaizu and Reginald Ladon! Arashi Cage, Yuuna Mirunaka, Styles Kaizu and Nina! Jezabelle Justine, Fareth Keylian and Haru Curio! And lastly Hughes Franklin, Varic Tesla and Roseala Grimmtear!"

"You want me to work with him!?" Rayner shouted after Salina had finished.

"You took the words right out of my mouth!" Ajax added as he stood up.

"You stay out of this!" the Forge Mage yelled.

"Hey! I was agreeing with you for once!"

"I don't want your help!"

"Are you two fighting again?" Salina asked sweetly, an innocent smile on her face as Rayner and Ajax quickly backed down.

"No! Not at all!" Ajax stammered, "We're just really excited is all!"

"A-Aye!" Rayner added nervously.

"Good," Salina smiled as the two men sat back down.

"What's wrong with humans?" Styles sighed, although he wasn't too happy about the team arrangements either.

"Now then, the teams are final so I hope there will be no further questions about the arrangements. When you're ready, come and see me to get your mission!" as Salina said this, the different teams began to meet up with each other, "I hope you don't mind not getting the chance to participate," Salina apologized as Caleb walked up to her.

"I don't mind," Caleb stated, "My responsibility to keep the contestants healthy is more important than the chance to participate in the games. It should be interesting to see how everyone will do though."

"I just hope they don't get themselves hurt too badly on these missions though," Salina added softly.

**. : + : .**

"Hey Camille!" Jace called out as he and Rave ran up to the swordswoman, "Looks like we're on the same team," the Dragon Slayer grinned.

"Jace. It's been a while since we've gone on a mission together. I'm looking forward to it," Camille responded with a small bow, "Now where is Light?"

"Here," Light grumbled as she and Rakki walked up to them.

"C'mon Light," Rakki pleaded, "At least try to have a good time, I know you like Jace well enough."

"I know," Light sighed, "So what do you think our mission is going to be?"

"I already got it from Salina," Jace announced happily.

"We're going to Rosary Village!" Rave chirped.

"Rosary…" Camille mumbled, "I believe you mentioned that you stayed there for a time when you were younger, Jace."

"Yep, they've got a bandit problem it looks like. So we've gotta get over there ASAP," he explained, "After that I'd like to spend some time with my friends there if you don't mind."

"I don't mind at all if it's all right with you," Camille answered as she looked over at Light and Rakki.

"Fine," Light sighed as the team set out to prepare for their mission.

**. : + : .**

The forest outside of Freesia Town was eerily quiet. The birds stayed quiet in their nests, the small burrowing animals stayed hidden in their burrows, and even the predators were unseen. Agni stood in the shade of a tree that overlooked Freesia Town. Not far behind Agni stood his master, who was presently wrapping his bandages back around his head and Agni dared not to look at his master while his face was uncovered. The man had unwrapped his bandages so that he could accurately receive the information from the pendant he had provided the Information Broker with by using his own matching, bronze pendant.

"Agni," the bandaged man called out as the Nightmare began to form, "Edina has been causing trouble in the nearby town as of late. Watch over her," he commanded.

"Of course, master," the silver haired Nightmare responded, "Master," the Nightmare called out.

"What?" the man asked coldly.

"Are you certain that you can trust that Information Broker to carry out his end of the bargain? After all, that man took in the demon, Rhiannon. He must know how dangerous she is to us Nightmares."

"You should not worry. I fully expect him to both carry out his end of the bargain and to oppose us all at once," the bandaged man stated, "I expect him to play both sides."

"Hm… So if I find that any of his agents are opposing us…"

"Kill them."

"As you command," Agni stated with a deep bow.

**. : + : .**

"Rhia!" Euclid shouted into the communication lachrima, "Rhia! Hey pick up!"

"_Tch… What is it?" _Rhiannon asked through the lachrima, _"I was about to take a shower, so if this is about my last report_ _I'm hanging up."_

"It isn't," Euclid smirked, knowing that he had caught Rhia's interest, "And Aurora and Proclus are the ones who have problems with your reports. Anyways, I just thought that I ought to inform you of something."

"_Eh? What?" _Rhia asked, _"You don't usually tell me anything."_

"You know about Nightmares, correct?" Euclid questioned, fully knowing the answer to the question, but smirking nonetheless when he saw a serious look cross Rhia's face, "An agent of mine has confirmed that the recent abductions in Freesia Town are the work of a powerful Nightmare, not your run-of-the-mill kind that indiscriminately eat people, but a highly intelligent humanoid Nightmare."

"_Why are you telling me this?" _Rhia asked, _"Are you changing my assignment?"_

"No, I just thought that I'd tell you is all. You can do what you want with the information," Euclid chuckled, "That's all I had to tell you," he added as he cut off the communication in time to see his three guests enter the room, "Welcome! What do you want to know today, Myrick?"

**. : + : .**

Rhia looked down at the lachrima in her hand, a solemn look on her face as she mulled over what Euclid had told her. She could never escape this fate of hers. Since day one her purpose had been set and nothing she had done could change that fact.

"My purpose is to fight the Nightmares… My Curse was created to attack them at their core," she muttered as she continued to look at the orb in her hand, seeing her distorted reflection in it before she shattered the orb with a black mist, "Zeref… Tartarus… and even Euclid… They all see me as a tool to kill them… and _him_," she hissed while baring her fangs and filling the word 'him' with all the hate and disgust she could manage, "I am the Demon created to destroy Nightmares, so that's what I'll do. Once I finally do that, I can be free," Rhiannon announced to no one but herself as she left her hotel room, leaving the building so that she could head to her new destination… Freesia Town.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there it is! The beginning of Arc 3. Sorry that it's kinda short, I'm still getting back into the flow of writing Undine's Cove and Fairy Tail in general and I had meant for this chapter to be longer and for there to be a few more scenes with different teams, but yeah... It takes small steps in order to get back up to speed, so please bear with me. And just so you know, some of the missions this story arc will be incredibly light-hearted in nature, while some... not so much as you may have been able to guess due to the three-way deadlock I've established between Undine's Cove, Euclid, and the Nightmares. Also, I'll be rotating through the different missions this arc, so I'll start with three groups, switch to the next three, then so on and so forth until I come back to the first few teams that I started with and then I'll keep rotating through until I finish all of the missions. Anyways, I hope that you all are looking forward to it!

Please remember to leave a review!

Your host,

dreadburner94.


	29. Etherious and Nightmares

**A/N: **Okay, Chapter 24 is up! This is the second chapter in response to the challenge I gave MyDearWatson, so there's one more after this.

I'd like to thank Master of Anime224, SaiyaStyles, MyDearWatson, PrinceOfTheMatrix88, potentialauthor18, WrittenWhim, The Baz, WaterDragonMaverick, Joshua1277, and GhostOfOnyx for their reviews last chapter!

**Master of Anime224- **Glad to hear that you think the three-way deadlock will develop well, and yeah, some of these teams are pretty interesting. Well, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**SaiyaStyles- **I hope you enjoy how I'll portray Styles with the other mages, and actually I was going to show quite a bit of Styles and his interactions with others during the birthday party, but since I haven't been able to figure it out I had to put it on hold for a little while. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**MyDearWatson- **Yeah, Kiyeda is really going to have her hands full with the two partners Salina's given her, and yep, Myrick's been briefly mentioned, but we'll see more of him soon as well. As for school… I've been pretty busy and I honestly should stop putting off a rather large assignment… but I'll get it done and fortunately next weekend is Fall Break! So I'll get to go home then. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**PrinceOfTheMatrix88- **Yeah Arashi's got quite the team to work with and it'll be interesting for sure. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**potentialauthor18- **Hehe, well here's another chapter! Yep, Salina's done it again by forcing people onto teams with each other, all for the sake of the Grand Magic Games at that. And well, making you people grin like fools is what I'm trying to do.

**WrittenWhim- **Once again, thank you for the idea for this arc! And yeah, whether or not the different groups will actually be able to work together should be interesting to see.

**The Baz- **I've just been busy is all, and I do remember having some ideas for some of the villains you sent in. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Odd thing is that I had a minor panic attack when you brought up Rosemary since I had accidentally put that down as Rosary Village's name while writing, but I managed to catch it before posting the chapter. And yep, Rhia's an Etherious, how that'll affect the coming missions, well, just wait and see.

**Joshua1277- **Happy to hear that you're looking forward to the coming chapters! And I hope you enjoy this one as well!

**GhostOfOnyx- **Happy to hear that you liked last chapter and I hope that you enjoy this one as well!

**Credits:**

**Aaron Thorn- Asher Grey**

**Chapter 24**

* * *

><p>"W-Welcome to 8-Island!" Kimi chirped with a slightly forced smile as she sat the new customers down, the young girl wearing a waitress uniform.<p>

"Oi! Kimi!" Ladon called out from the kitchen, "Here's that customers meal," he said with a yawn as he set the dish down.

"I'll be right there!" she responded as she swiftly walked back towards the kitchen, briefly looking in to see Horace running an experiment with a gas stove, "Um… Should he be doing that?" Kimi asked nervously as Ladon looked back at the S-Class mage, seeing him place a beaker on the stovetop.

Ladon blinked a few times before letting out a yawn, "Yajima hasn't said anything," he said bluntly, the man clearly being too tired to be bothered with what Horace was doing.

"Yajima isn't even here right now," Kimi interjected as Ladon attempted to recall what the man had said.

"I was asleep during the meeting wasn't I?" the tired man asked as he realized that he had woken up here, "Well I'm sure that he won't mind."

"So long as it doesn't explode," Kimi muttered right before the beaker caught fire.

"Oh… It's burning," Horace mused as he watched the flames dance, "Well this is interesting too I suppose," he added with his signature deranged smile.

"Put it out! You'll worry the customers!" Kimi shouted as Horace gave her an odd look.

"Very well," the scientist huffed as he removed the oxygen from around the fire, squelching it.

Kimi let out a drawn-out sigh as she picked up the customers meal, "Here's the new customers order," she muttered as she noticed Ladon had fallen asleep on the counter, "How?" Kimi asked in a bewildered tone.

"Don't worry," Horace said happily, "Now the customers get to taste the culinary creations of a scientist," he added as he examined the new order, a look of pride on his face.

"Why is this happening?" Kimi moaned as she hugged Mr. Voodoo, tears running down her face, "Styles… I hope you're having an easier time than me…"

**. : + : .**

'You really know how to give a guy a hard time, don't you Salina?' Alistar thought to himself as he looked at his two partners, Malon and Jewul, walking ahead of him through the streets of Hargeon, Willow bouncing around in the air making cooing noises at set intervals, "Hey, if you two want to stop talking about different gruesome ways to kill people there's something I need to talk to you about."

"What?" Malon asked quickly, "What? What? What? We were about to get to the really good part!"

"This better be good," Jewul huffed as she turned around to look at Alistar.

"No respect at all…" Alistar sighed before clearing his throat, "I just wanted to make something clear. Don't give my uncle a hard time."

"Your uncle?" Jewul repeated.

"Is he dead? Please tell me he's a ghost!" Malon practically begged, her eyes glittering with excitement as Willow cooed along.

"Sorry, but he's alive and well. He's also our client," Alistar announced.

"That's boring," Malon pouted as all of her previous excitement instantly deflated, "So what are we doing for him?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself," Alistar retorted while pointing towards a man walking towards them.

The man looked a lot like Alistar, having the same amber colored eyes and crimson hair, although his hair was unkempt and medium-length. He also had a more muscular build and his skin was tanner than the S-Class mage's, he also had a bit of stubble on his face as well. The man was wearing a white dress shirt and vest, with only the bottom half of the dress shirt being buttoned up, with a pair of blue jeans that were being held up with a brown leather belt and a pair of brown leather shoes.

"Alistar!" the man called out, "Were you the one who accepted my mission request?"

"More like Salina picked it out for me," Alistar responded, "Although she insisted that I bring these two."

"Or maybe she insisted that we bring you," Jewul hissed.

"Hahaha! Still having troubles with the ladies, eh Alistar?" the man chuckled.

"Uncle Aaron…" Alistar sighed, "Anyways, this is Jewul Poe Andi, Malon Qoun and Willow," he stated in introduction, pointing at each one of them in turn.

"Nice to meet you all," the man said happily, "Like he said, I'm Aaron Thorn, his uncle."

"So what's the job," Malon asked, still slightly disappointed that Aaron wasn't a disembodied spirit of some sort.

"Right, well pretty much every shop in town has received notes saying that we're all going to get robbed simultaneously," Aaron explained as he started walking back to his shop, gesturing for them to follow him, "The guy who wrote the note claims to be some sort of master thief apparently."

"Sounds over-confident to me," Jewul huffed.

"I don't think you have the right to get onto others about that after what happened to you when you joined the guild," Alistar snickered, the younger girl sending him a harsh glare as they walked.

"So I want you to catch the thief in the act basically," Aaron added, "If he's a master thief I don't think he'll be able to turn down the challenge of stealing while mages are watching out for him."

"Sounds easy enough," Alistar smirked.

"I hope the thief's a ghost or a wraith or maybe even a ghoul!" Malon cheered, Willow cooing along.

"She's a rather odd one, isn't she?" Aaron questioned as they continued walking.

"Don't even get me started," the S-Class Mage mumbled.

**. : + : .**

"I won't do it," Styles huffed, the man sitting opposite from Yune and Arashi in the carriage with Nina resting on the floor next to Styles.

"And I've already told you that you're participating in this mission!" Arashi shouted back. The S-Class mage was now wearing black, baggy, ripped up jeans that had a chain hanging off of the right side of them with a pair of black leather combat boots and a blood red, long-sleeved shirt under a thin hoodie that had black, gray, and red horizontal stripes.

"You expect me to fight animals!?" the blood mage growled in return, leaving Yune to simply watch the fight unfold before her.

"Um… Excuse me," she called out quietly, only to be ignored, "Excuse me!" she shouted, quickly earning her glares from the two angry men, "Aah…" the girl gasped.

Arashi quickly realized that he had glared at the poor girl before calming down, "What?" he asked in a calmer tone.

"… I just thought that I should point out that the form says to investigate why the animals have gone berserk," Yune mumbled, "That means that there's a person behind it most likely."

"God damn dirty humans," Styles cursed, "Fine I'll help, but I'm doing it to help the animals."

"Now that that's settled," Arashi huffed, "We're going to the Boundary Forest, so we'll need to stick together."

"Isn't that place filled with giant monsters?" Styles asked, "How can any human claim they're going berserk?"

"If you'd listen I could tell you," Arashi bit back, silencing Styles, "The nearby locals claim that even the creatures that don't attack humans, herbivores, are acting up, that's why they say they're going berserk," the S-Class mage explained, earning a huff from Styles.

"Fine, but I'm still not going to attack any animals except to defend myself… And I don't want you killing any either," Styles growled, his glare focused on Arashi.

"If you're not going to fight, that's fine, but don't forget who's in charge of you this mission," Arashi retorted as Yune looked out of the carriage window with a far off look.

'Are we really going to be okay this mission?' she asked herself quietly, worried about how poor their teamwork was going to be in the coming fights.

**. : + : .**

Ziv and Miriam sat on opposite sides of the train cabin, glaring at each other in an eerie and unsettling silence, leaving Jayne caught in the middle.

Normally, Jayne would have used the time spent on the train to write, but the unsettling feeling in the air kept her from focusing. Jayne felt like screaming at the top of her lungs if would ease the tension between the two other girls, 'All this because Miriam loves rabbits and Ziv hates them…' Jayne internally moaned as she let out a sigh, although it did nothing to deter the other two girls from their glaring contest.

It wasn't until the train finally came to a stop at their destination that Miriam and Ziv ceased glaring as the intercom announced their arrival.

"So!" Jayne started to say as her words died on her lips, still feeling the tension from earlier, "Um… Are we going to the mayor's office?" she finally managed to ask.

"It'd be a good idea to get a grasp of the situation," Miriam said lowly as they exited the train.

"We should also figure out who all has been kidnapped," Ziv added, "So we should find the families too."

'Are they trying to outdo each other now?' Jayne asked herself before coming out of her thoughts, "Well, we're in Freesia Town now anyways, so let's get this mission started!" she cheered, trying to lighten the mood before running over to a silver-haired man to ask for directions, "Excuse me!"

"Hm?" the man hummed as he looked down at Jayne, his gray eyes showing his irritation at being bothered by her, "What?" he asked, hostility thick in his voice as Jayne suddenly felt an all-encompassing fear, her knees buckling as she fell down, "Hmph," the man huffed as he walked away, never bothering to hear Jayne's question.

"What's with him?" Ziv asked as she watched the man walk off as she helped Jayne back onto her feet, "Are you all right?"

"I think so," Jayne muttered as she regained her sense of balance, "That guy was… scary."

"He looked pretty normal to me," Miriam huffed.

"You don't get it! It was like all of my fears flashed before my eyes when he looked at me," Jayne tried to explain with a shudder as she recalled the feeling she had, "I hope we don't run into him anymore."

"Don't worry Jayne," Ziv reassured as they started walking again, "What are the odds of that happening?"

**. : + : .**

Rhiannon watched as three Undine's Cove mages passed her by on the streets of Freesia Town. She recognized them all from Euclid's files on them, but she couldn't remember what they could do off the top of her head.

"Looks like they got a job to solve the kidnappings," she muttered as she sat on her motorcycle, using it as a bench of sorts, "So long as they don't get in my way I suppose. Although Euclid would probably be upset if something happened to them," Rhia mused before she felt the presence of a Nightmare, "Tch… Another one's shown up… An even more dangerous one at that. Well it won't try anything so long as we're in public at least," she huffed as she looked around for anyone suspicious looking, "I wonder how important they are to him?" she asked no one in particular before standing up, "I might as well get a drink in the meantime though," Rhia chirped happily as she walked off to the closest bar.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there it is! Chapter 24! A wee bit longer than the last one, but it's to setup different missions. Anyways, just one more chapter and I'll have fulfilled my end of the challenge.

Please remember to leave a review!

Your host,

dreadburner94.


	30. Chance

**A/N: **And here's chapter 25! The last chapter of my part of the challenge.

And we have another setup chapter since I'm rotating through all of the groups since these missions are more or less all happening at the same time.

Anyways, I'd like to thank Master Of Anime224, SaiyaStyles, WaterDragonMaverick, PrinceOfTheMatrix88, potentialauthor18, GhostOfOnyx, and MyDearWatson for their reviews last chapter!

**Master Of Anime224- **Happy to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter well enough, although we've got more setup this chapter as well due to how I'm handling the missions this time around. And well, the last chapter was only about 200 words longer than the one before, but anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**SaiyaStyles- **I had a lot of these missions picked out beforehand, although I had MyDearWatson's help in coming up with them all. Anyways, I'll try to keep that in mind and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **What indeed will Rhia do? Well, guess you'll just have to wait and find out. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**PrinceOfTheMatrix88- **Happy to hear that you enjoyed the team dynamics between Arashi, Yune and Styles last chapter. I hope you enjoy this one as well!

**potentialauthor18- **Yeah, the first mission from last chapter is definitely more light-hearted in nature and yeah, poor Kimi, she got stuck with two of the more odd personalities in guild. Ladon just can't stay awake and who knows what Horace might cook up in the name of science. And yeah, Alistar might've drawn the short stick to get stuck with both Malon and Jewul at the same time, but I'm sure Salina might've done it on purpose. And considering Yune's personality she may have drawn a short stick as well. As for Ziv, Jayne and Miriam, things will get kinda hairy for them in future for sure considering what they're up against. Now that I think about it, Ziv seems to have pretty bad luck so far when it comes to her missions, first Euclid and Aurora, now Nightmares and an Etherious. Any who, I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter and well, midterms are coming up so I'm not sure if I'll get to do much of anything, but before that is fall break, so I might try and get something up then.

**GhostOfOnyx- **Happy to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter! And yeah, I try and keep all of the characters distinct from each other, it's easier with some more than others, but still. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**MyDearWatson- **Yeah, I'm pretty sure only a miracle could save 8-Island at this point and I imagine that this Master Thief is only the STEALTHIEST thief that ever lived. And yeah, conflict was probably going to happen no matter who Styles got paired with at this point and poor Yune, caught in the middle of it. And that back story calls for a Historical Omake actually, for both involved parties, but they'll have to wait for some other time. Asides for that, yeah, they'll really need to get their act together if they want to live. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Credits:**

**Chance- WrittenWhim**

**Nevara the Crow- Falling Lanterns**

**Chloe Llinos and Taimi- dreadburner94**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 25<strong>

"Now don't forget that I'm counting on you all to guarantee my safety!" the nobleman repeated for the umpteenth time before finally letting his guards shut the door to his carriage. Aspen, Kaiyo, Sean and Jean were in charge of escorting this nobleman from Hargeon back to his estate near the border of Bosco, and as there weren't any railroad tracks heading in that direction, they were to escort the man on foot, protecting him from anyone who might be targeting him for any reason.

"Why does the noble have to be a fat man?" Jean moaned as he walked next Sean.

"I'm sure he can hear you," Sean pointed out with a shrug, but doing nothing to stop the Exceed.

"Why couldn't he have been a big busted- Gah!" the Exceed screamed as Aspen picked up by his tail, the cat having to hold onto his hat so that he didn't drop it, "Lemee go! Lemee go!" he continued screaming as Aspen started roasting the cat's tail.

"Then learn to think before talking," Aspen hissed lowly before throwing Jean ahead of them.

"I apologize for my friends' behavior," Kaiyo apologized to the nobleman through the carriage window.

"No need," the noble chuckled, "They are quite entertaining to watch and the cat has already received its punishment it seems."

"It's a pretty normal event actually," Kaiyo sighed, remembering when the cat's antics had been focused on Kiyeda for a time, "That reminds me," the Raven Mage said lowly, punting Jean even further ahead of them once they reached his unmoving body.

"How has that cat not learned his lesson yet?" Aspen huffed as she walked next to Sean.

"I asked him that once," Sean answered, "All he said is that it was because he's a magical cat. Whatever that means."

"How does that even make sense?" Aspen asked while pinching her forehead.

"It doesn't," Sean sighed before noticing a large group of people on the path in front of them, "This is troublesome…"

"This belong to you lot?" a large muscular man, clearly the leader of the bunch, asked, holding Jean up in the air by his tail. The man stood at about 6'6" with an overly muscular build and tan skin. He had unruly black hair that fell past his shoulders and beady, black eyes. He wore mostly furs and leather, his outfit resembling a stereotypical bandit, and he had a claw weapon strapped to his right hand.

"Sean~," Jean moaned as he swayed back in forth in air, "Help your poor grandfather."

"Stop the carriage!" Kaiyo instructed as he ran up to stand next to Sean and Aspen, "Are they bandits?"

"Slavers more likely," Aspen said lowly as glared at the group in front of them.

"Please, we're simple merchants," the large man responded, his men snickering behind him, "Our business is perfectly legal. We just… Outsource the production of goods to other countries. Tell you what, give us the girl and we'll let the rest of you lot go. What do you think? Pretty good deal right?"

"I knew that Hargeon and the area around was plagued by slavers from Bosco… But I won't tolerate this!" Aspen screamed as she charged towards the slavers, Sean and Kaiyo taking off after her.

**. : + : .**

"Heh… Perfect," a smooth voice mused, "That's right Aspen, show me what you can do now," the man continued after he had moved the piece that represented Aspen on the mental chess board in his head forward, causing the girl to attack and lose her cool when she normally wouldn't have.

The man simply went by the name of Chance, opting to not use his real name most of the time. He stood at 6'4" with a lean, but strong, build and lightly tanned skin. He had dark gray eyes and his somewhat messy maroon hair was cut shorter in the back than it was in the front. Chance wore wine colored button down shirt under a black vest with a pair of dark pants and dark gray running shoes.

"Euclid really is a top-notch Information Broker, everything's been spot on so far," Chance smirked as he watched Aspen's battle with the slavers, "Well then, let's see how she performs under pressure then," he muttered as he moved her piece into the path of danger.

**. : + : .**

"So how are we going to break into there?" Varic asked as he, Hughes and Roseala looked down at the fortress said to be the lair of the Bandit King.

"Well, we've got to get in there to recover that stolen artifact," Hughes muttered, "I could melt our way in through a wall."

"And what are we going to do if someone finds the hole?" Varic retorted.

"Good point… Hey, do you have any summonings that could fly us in?" Hughes asked while looking at Roseala.

"Um… I do… But… Well…" she mumbled while fidgeting nervously.

"What?" Varic asked, a curious look on his face.

"I guess it's better to show you," Roseala mumbled as she pulled out her book and opened it, "Fable Magic: Nevara the Crow!" she announced as a tall and lanky girl that had black hair and dark eyes appeared. She was wearing a black, feathered dress and she had two black wings and a black feathered tail protruding out of her back.

The woman instantly had an irritated look on her face once she realized that she had been summoned, "The hell have you summoned me for this time?" Nevara asked in a horribly rude tone.

"Uh…" Roseala gawked, unsure of what to say to her summoning.

"What? Spit it out already girl," the crow demanded, her patience beginning to wear thin.

"Hey, you could at least try treating her with a little more respect!" Hughes shouted.

"Oh? Sorry human, but I don't take orders from you."

"Y-you old crow!" the acid mage retorted, only to find himself flattened on the ground as soon as the word 'crow' had left his mouth, Nevara glaring down at him.

"Stop! Please," Roseala begged as Varic just watched the situation unfold, "Nevara, I wanted to ask if you could fly each of us into that castle."

"Do I look like a taxi, girl?" Nevara asked.

"Sorry," Roseala apologized, a guilty look on her face.

"Fine, I'll get you all over there," the crow eventually huffed, a mischievous smirk creeping onto her face.

"Oh? Thank you!" Roseala said happily as Hughes got back up.

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this?" Varic sighed, worried about what Nevara might do.

**. : + : .**

"I'm telling you that I took down the most bandits!" Rayner shouted as he argued with Ajax, the two men arguing over who had won their competition during the mission as they walked back to Hargeon through the forest.

"And I'm telling you that since I took down the chief that I win!" Ajax countered as the two men butted heads, Leon sitting on Ajax's shoulder.

"Really mature you two," Kiyeda sighed, thoroughly sick of the two men's fighting.

"Shut it you!" they shouted in unison.

"Oh? Are you two still sore that I was promoted to S-Class in first trial?" Kiyeda asked innocently as she rubbed salt in their wounds.

"If you hadn't have kept flying around everywhere I would've won that fight and you know it!" Ajax shouted.

"And if it wasn't for Alistar, Camille and I would've whipped both you and Kaiyo!" Rayner added.

"If I remember correctly, it was Camille who was the S-Class candidate, not you," Kiyeda chuckled, "Or do you remember differently?" she asked, leaving Rayner at a loss for words.

"Idiot," Ajax huffed.

"You keep your mouth shut!" the Forge Mage snapped as a sound caught Ajax's ear.

"Quiet," he demanded, holding a hand up to Rayner.

"What?"

"I said quiet!" Ajax growled as he covered Rayner's mouth with his hand, "I heard something," he whispered as a figure burst out of a nearby bush, the figure letting out a loud shriek and collapsing on the ground upon seeing the three mages and Exceed.

The figure was a young girl who couldn't be any older than 16 and she was covered in cuts and bruises, as if she had been in a fight. She stood at 5'3" with a very thin build, pale skin and a small chest. She had short, brown hair styled into a bob cut and large, forest green eyes. The girl was wearing a fine, forest green colored tunic over a ragged, brown tunic with a pair of white, cloth pants that were tucked into a pair of brown boots.

"Chloe!" a small, female voice called out as a small brown Exceed dressed in a small, green dress, flew out from where the girl came from, "More of them?" the Exceed gasped upon noticing the three mages in front of the girl.

"More?" Kiyeda mumbled, unsure of what the flying cat meant as Ajax started sniffing the air.

"We're not alone in this forest," the Glass Dragon Slayer mumbled as he lowered his hand from Rayner's mouth, letting the man speak again.

"Were you chased here?" Kiyeda asked the girl in a kind voice as she bent down to be at eye level with her.

"Chloe… Don't trust them," the Exceed warned as she landed on the ground next to the girl while giving Kiyeda a hostile look.

"It's alright Taimi," the girl mumbled, "I think we can trust them," she added as she slowly stood back up, "My name is Chloe, Chloe Llinos. And this is Taimi."

"Chloe…" Taimi whined, "We don't have time for this, we need to escape."

"Escape from what?" Kiyeda asked, "Is someone after you?"

"Yes," Chloe started to answer as Taimi cut her off.

"We don't have time to explain Chloe! Hurry!" the Exceed pleaded, trying to drag Chloe along with her.

"Get down!" Rayner shouted as he shoved the young girl down, "Aegis!" he announced as a loud noise reverberated throughout the area as a golden spear impacted off of the magic shield.

"Here comes another!" Ajax shouted as Rayner moved to deflect the second one, although the only noise heard was the sound of metal cutting into flesh as Rayner's blood sprayed into the air.

**. : + : .**

"Is this the report?" Euclid asked as Proclus dragged a folder to the Broker's feet, being unable to set it on the desk due to being a cat.

"Yes," Proclus answered as Euclid picked up the file, "Kyria has been working hard lately. Gathering information on this man was no small feat."

"So this is the doctor who's been going around implanting Dragon Lachrima into people. Looks like we've got a whole list of his 'patients," Euclid muttered as he read through the file, "Heh… Tell Kyria that she gets a bonus and a week off for her good work."

"Of course," Proclus responded as he jumped up onto a chair, the cat's eyes turning back to normal as the spirit left its body.

"Now… What exactly does this man hope to gain?" Euclid muttered as he went back to reading the file.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there it is! Chapter 25 and the end of my part of the challenge! I hope you enjoyed it!

Please remember to leave a review!

Your host,

dreadburner94.


	31. Historical Omake: Salina Velvet Part 2

**A/N: **Due to the fact that I've felt inspired to pick up Salina's Historical Omake again (as in I was hit by a truckload of inspiration for her Historical Omakes), I decided to work on part two! Although since her Historical Omakes will be a pretty much tell the story of her most notable adventures, she'll most likely have the longest Historical Omake series.

(Somewhat important thing! I've been considering going back through some of the earlier chapters and expanding on them as well as cleaning them up to make them a bit better grammar wise and all that since I'm able to edit chapters. I'd start from the prologue and work up to this point. If you think I should, tell me you think so, if not tell me it's fine as it it.) Edit: I decided to go ahead and rewrite the prologue, so it's a bit different now. Give it a look-see.

I'd like to thank WrittenWhim, Master of Anime224, SaiyaStyles, WaterDragonMaverick, MyDearWatson, FrozenBlast13, PrinceOfTheMatrix88, and LightandDarkHeart for their reviews last chapter.

**WrittenWhim- **Yep, the chemistry between quite a few members of Undine's Cove really isn't that great, so there's a bit of infighting going on for sure. And of course such a magical cat could never learn such a lesson, since being perverted is what this magical cat does best. And slavers are clearly the most pleasant people to encounter on a lonely country road, and yeah, as we discussed last month, I decided to bump Chance's appearance up since the original idea for this story arc came from you and it's good to hear that I got him down well so far. Yeah, Roseala's summons are all quite interesting, very much like the Celestial Spirits are, so they can usually find a way to make things interesting and as for Kiyeda, there's a bit of history between Ajax, Rayner, and Kiyeda within the guild's history, so the three of them bicker quite a bit when put together. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the omake!

**Master of Anime224- **Happy to hear that the missions catch your interest so far, and yeah, Chance is a rather interesting character as well. And yep, the villains just seem to be crawling out of the woodworks recently. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the omake!

**SaiyaStyles- **Yeah, Nevara reminds me of Aquarius as well. Well, I hope you enjoy the omake!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Yeah, Jean will never learn, cause he's not just any cat, but a magical cat! As for Chance, there may be more going on that it might seem… Anyways, Nevara very much reminds me of Aquarius, as for what that crow has planned, you'll just have to wait and see. Yep, Team Kiyeda is in quite the pickle honestly, as for what'll happen, once again you'll just have to wait and see.

**MyDearWatson- **Happy to hear that you enjoyed that first part so much! It seems that everybody has some beef with that poor perverted cat, even Sean can get sick of his antics at times. As for Chance, you'll just have to wait and see what he's up to. And Kiyeda isn't an S-Class for nothing, much to Rayner and Ajax's chagrin, so she isn't afraid of the two bickering men in the slightest. And yeah, Rayner just seems to always draw the short straw when it comes to these things, poor guy's got terrible luck and an author who loves to torture him, terrible combination for his health honestly. And you may just be onto something with what's going on in that mission, but anyways, I hope you enjoy the omake!

**FrozenBlast13- **Yeah, quite a few of the people at the guild don't exactly get along well with each other, so the overall chemistry of Undine's Cove is somewhat poor at the moment. Well, I've pretty much already stated, or at least heavily implied, who Rhia's creator was, I'm teetering between the decision to just outright say it or not, but since this'll be one of the subjects of the mission she's in, I guess I'll just let you wonder if you haven't already figured it out. And I imagine that several stories have 8-Island in it, although it'll be quite the frequent setting in this story since it's in the town that the guild is based in, and yeah, Kimi is quite fond of Styles. Unfortunately, at the time I was getting back into the swing of things and was suffering from a decline in inspiration, however, things have since gotten better for me inspiration-wise, so hopefully the length of the chapters will go back up. And as for Chloe, you'll just have to wait and see.

**PrinceOfTheMatrix88- **Happy to hear that you enjoyed that chapter! And yeah, there's so much to wait and see for recently, Chloe being one of those things. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the omake!

**LightandDarkHeart- **There's honestly a whole lot starting up in the Mix'N'Match arc, the doctor with the Dragon Lachrima, the situation Team Kiyeda is faced with, Chance, and those are just the things that started up last chapter too. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the omake!

**Credits:**

**Lugus Velvet- Dreadburner94**

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the omake!

* * *

><p><strong>Historical Omake: Salina Velvet Part 2<strong>

**May 10****th****, X790, the Mage's Guild Undine's Cove**

Salina sat at her desk, fully determined to through with the decision she had made, although she still had worries.

"What will I do if they get hurt? Or if we don't make it past the prelims?" Salina mumbled to herself, "I suppose that's part of why I've kept them out of the Grand Magic Games so far, although..." the guild master mused as she looked at a picture frame on her desk, the frame containing a picture of herself, her foster father, Conway Velvet, and her foster brother Lugus Velvet, "Lugus-nii would probably have sent them all in with some brilliant strategy," Salina chuckled as she picked up the picture frame, a feeling of melancholy coming over her, "Where did you go...?" she asked softly as she stared at the picture of Lugus.

**. : + : .**

**November 3****rd****, X747, Hargeon Town, Fiore**

Salina had finally been cleared to leave the hospital after nearly two months of rehabilitation from her trip from Enca to Fiore. In that time, she had been taken in by an old sailor named Conway Velvet, a giant of a man with a large, bushy white beard and bald head. He had told her of his son, a quiet and scholarly mage by the name of Lugus. And he had in turn told Lugus of Salina, although Lugus never had the opportunity to visit her in the hospital due to his research.

"Now don't you be letting Lugus intimidate you," Conway slurred as he and Salina walked towards the sailor's home in Hargeon, a dark gray sky hanging overhead as a light rain fell around them, "He's likely to stare at you while he figures you out and he is twice yer age at this point. The lad's sixteen by the way," the sailor added quickly, knowing that Salina herself had only lived a scant eight years.

"Of course, Velvet-san," Salina said in a somewhat happy tone despite the melancholy look on her face before a question popped into her head, "But how old are you then?"

"Me? Well I'm about 56 myself. Lugus was born when I was 40, which is a mite late to be having children I know," the man explained as they neared his humble abode, a house meant to comfortably house four people at the most, the house being a good size, but only one story high. Although to the young Salina who grew up in a small hut, the house seemed rather large to her, "Well, here we be. Let's get a room picked out for you and introduce you to my son," Conway said as he opened the front door and stepped in, Salina following him in.

The pair stepped into the house, leading them into a small foyer area that was separated from a small living room by a half-wall on the right and from the kitchen on the left by another half-wall. Sitting at the kitchen table, with a cup of tea in one hand and a book in the other was a young man with messy, dark blond hair. He had calm and intelligent onyx eyes behind round and intelligent looking spectacles. He had a thin build fitting of a scholar, as opposed to Conway's large and muscular build, and pale skin that implied that he didn't go outside nearly as much as the older sailor. The young man wore a gray, turtle-neck sweater that had an assortment of leather straps crossing it, each strap holding several leather pouches. He also wore a pair of tan slacks with a brown leather belt and brown leather boots. Draped on the back of the chair was a navy blue cloak that had silver trimmings on it and a large leather satchel sat on the table while an elegant magic staff leaned in the corner behind the young man.

"Oi! Come over here Lugus!" Conway bellowed at the young man who set his book and tea down in response before getting up, the young man appearing to stand a 5'8" Salina noticed as Lugus walked over to them, "This here is Salina! She'll be living with us from now on!" the old sailor announced happily.

"I see," Lugus muttered as he examined the young girl before him, looking her up and down as he took in her appearance before speaking again, "I'm Lugus Velvet as father has no doubt told you already. It's a pleasure to meet the girl he's gone on about for the past few months," the young man greeted in a pleasant tone.

"Nice to meet you," Salina responded with a bow, "My name is Tsukiko Shiraki… Or rather Salina Belbet," she added with a sad looking smile before she gasped as an embarrassed blush crossed her face as she realized that she said 'Velvet' wrong again, the rain picking up ever so slightly.

"Ah… You have good tastes in names father," Lugus mentioned after thinking for a moment.

"Do I really?" the sailor asked, a proud smirk on the man's face.

"Both Salina and Tsukiko's meaning have to do with the moon," the young man explained, "So the name you've been calling her has been very appropriate."

"Really? I just picked it cause there's a moon on that umbrella O' hers and I thought it sounded pretty," Conway admitted while he rubbed the back of his head.

"Salina then…" the girl muttered, drawing curious looks from Conway and Lugus, "Just Salina Bel… Belbe… Be… V-Vel…vet… Just Salina Velvet," she stated, feeling slightly accomplished at saying the name right.

Lugus looked down at the young girl as a smile crept up onto his face, "All right then, Salina Velvet, welcome to the family," he said happily as he watched a smile appear on her face, "Also, I must apologize for something."

"What?" Salina asked, a confused expression quickly appearing on her face.

"For never visiting you in the hospital," Lugus answered, "I was so caught up in my studies and research that I never took the time and for that I apologize."

Salina looked at Lugus, a surprised look on her face as she tried to find the right words to say.

"Hahaha!" Conway boomed in laughter, "Looks like you've shocked her boy!"

"Hm?" Lugus hummed before looking back down at Salina, realized that she hadn't said a word after he apologized, "Ah… My apologies," he said again.

"I-It's fine," Salina eventually responded, the rain slowing down to a drizzle outside, "I wasn't offended by your lack of visits as I had yet to meet you."

"But still… I apologize," Lugus said once again.

"You'd best accept, or he'll just keep apologizing to ya," Conway smirked, knowing how his son could get when he felt like he had wronged someone.

Salina nodded at Conway's words before looking back over to Lugus, "I forgive you for not visiting," she stated shyly, Lugus smiling at her in return.

**. : + : .**

Salina sat alone in the bedroom provided to her by Conway and Lugus. It had been the guest bedroom for as long as they had lived in the house and thus it had two twin sized beds in it. One with simple purple bed sheets and the other having blue bed sheets, Salina had elected to take the blue one for herself. The bedroom, like much of the house, had simple furnishings, mostly made of wood, and there were a few oil lamps sitting around the room, but Salina couldn't get herself to light them so she was sitting in the dark.

The young girl stared out the window, rain lightly falling against the house, the pitter patter of the rain mesmerizing Salina as it beat against the window. She couldn't help the sad feeling she was experiencing, the kindness and warmth of Conway and Lugus reminded her of village and parents, "Why… did that have to happen?" she whispered, her eyes tearing up as the sound of the rain drowned out the sound of her voice, "Why did they have to…? Why?" Salina repeated, the rain picking up as her tears spilled over. She had dealt with these feelings for the past few months, but now they seemed to ache even more that she had found a new warmth. Salina remained lost in thought till she heard a knock on the door.

"Pardon the intrusion," Lugus said as he opened the door, his expression quickly falling when he saw that Salina had been crying in dark. Lugus quickly walked over to one of the oil lamps and lit it after setting the bundle of clothes he was carrying down on the spare bed, although Salina seemed to flinch when the light of the small flame began illuminating the room, a crack of thunder reverberating throughout Hargeon, "Would you prefer the lamp be put out?" Lugus asked, not missing her reaction to the flame, the girl merely nodding in response as Lugus put out the flame, "My apologies," he said after set the oil lamp back down and sat down on the spare bed, clasping his hands under his chin as he rested his elbows on his knees, "Now then, I can imagine what's wrong and I won't ask you to recall the story, but, is there anything I can do to help?"

Salina simply looked at Lugus, unsure of what to say. He hadn't told her to tell him what was wrong, he knew that it would only make her sadder at this time. Instead the young man had simply told her to tell him what he could do to help her. She had no idea what to tell him, so instead she merely stood up and sat on the other bed next to Lugus and wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face into his side.

"I see," Lugus said softly, "'Stay here with you for now,' am I right?" he asked as he patted the young girl's back, Salina nodding in response as she continued to cry, "I can do that," he whispered, the two of them sitting in silence, the rain slowly beginning to lighten.

After a long while, Salina let go of Lugus and sat up, rubbing her eyes to wipe away the tears, "Thank you," she whispered.

"Of course," Lugus nodded, "Now then, I brought you pajamas to change into for the night," he mentioned, gesturing towards the bundle of clothes on the bed next to him as he mentally noted that the rain had completely stopped for the first time all day, 'It's rained an awful lot since father found her,' he thought before looking back at Salina, "I'll be going back to my room now so that you can get changed. See you in the morning and good night," he added as he stood up and walked out of the room, leaving Salina by herself.

'I've really met some wonderful people,' Salina thought to herself before changing into the pajamas for the night.

**. : + : .**

**November 4****th****, X747**

Salina happily entered the humble Velvet abode after a day of shopping for clothes with Conway. He had decided that he would take her out shopping that day during breakfast since she only had the clothes on her back up until them. The young girl was now wearing a light blue tunic that had black trimmings and was held closed by a white sash wrapped around her waist. Underneath the tunic she wore a simple white shirt and a pair of black leggings that were tucked into a pair of brown boots.

Salina twirled her oil-paper umbrella one more time before closing it and looking back at Conway, whose arms were filled with shopping bags of various sizes.

"A successful day of shopping, father?" Lugus asked in a humorous tone as he set down the book he was reading, the man still hadn't moved from the dinner table, although he had taken care of the dishes like he said he would.

"You could be saying that I suppose," the older man sighed as he walked past Lugus and into the guest bedroom to put down the bags.

"So what do you think of Hargeon?" Lugus asked as Salina sat down on the couch in the living room.

"It's really big! And so are all of the buildings! There are so many people too, how does everyone know who everyone else is?" she asked.

"That's just it, not one person in Hargeon can say that they've met everyone in town," Lugus chuckled.

"What? But… But everyone in the village has to help each other or it doesn't work," Salina stated, albeit a confused look on her face.

"Hehe, well people in Hargeon, and Fiore in general, are richer and more self-sufficient than people in Enca," Lugus explained, "And when there's a problem that the people can't handle, they ask the guilds for help."

"Guilds?" Salina repeated.

"Mage Guilds. Groups of magic-users who have banded together to take on tasks in exchange for money."

Salina fell silent after hearing Lugus' explanation, "The only magic-users in Enca are the war clans… They send out war bands to take what they need," Salina said lowly, a look of anger mixed with sadness on her face as it began sprinkling outside.

Lugus looked out the window, watching the rain slowly grow heavier, "Tell me… Has the weather always changed with your emotions?"

"What? No, I'm normal."

"No, I'm certain of it," Lugus muttered as he pushed up his glasses, "Only magic could affect the weather like this. Haven't you noticed? It's rained far too frequently since you arrived in Hargeon, even for a port town like this."

"No… I'm normal… I know I am. I never had magic before," Salina argued, a sad look on her face as the rain became noticeably heavier, "I don't want to be like…"

"Salina, I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm a mage," Lugus stated, "Just because you can use magic doesn't mean that you have to be a certain way. Many guilds in Fiore, especially one very troublesome guild, emphasize friendship and upholding peace."

"I…" Salina started to say as Conway came back into the room.

"Salina, let me tell you a tale," the old sailor said as he sat on the couch next to her, Salina giving him her full attention, "My wife and Lugus' mother was a kind and wonderful woman, she was also a mage. She taught Lugus the basics when she found out that he could use magic and she was excited for him as well. She could never ignore anyone in need of her aid and she helped everyone she could gladly… but then…"

"What? What happened?" Salina asked.

"She died saving Hargeon from a pirate attack," Conway finished, "She had been badly wounded in the fight, but she managed to defeat all of the pirates before finally dropping. She was a real tough woman that one."

Salina stared at the large man, she had never really heard of magic-users using their power to protect before. They were the ones to be feared and who took what they wanted, not someone to rely on or seek the help of. The idea of a mage who helped the weak was a revolutionary concept that Salina had never heard of before. To say she was enamored with the idea may have been an understatement.

"If I'm a mage… What magic do I have?" she asked shyly.

"Well… I can't say that I've ever heard of it before, but I'd call it Weather Magic. Magic that can control the weather and the phenomena created by the weather," Lugus answered, a thoughtful look on his face as he continued mulling over what he had seen and noticed over the past day, "It's tied to your emotions as well I believe."

"That's all?" Salina mumbled, feeling slightly underwhelmed at the thought of what her magic was.

"Hold on now," Lugus sighed, "I get the feeling that you're not thinking outside of the box. I believe that your magic has the potential to be one of the most powerful and versatile around," he explained as the girl's expression perked back up.

"Why don'tcha head down to the cove then and see if she can control it?" Conway suggested, "Honestly the talk 'bout how magic works is over my head, but ya should see what she can manage to do before anything I think."

"Ah, of course. I got ahead of myself," Lugus muttered, "Let's head to the cove then."

"Cove?" Salina repeated.

"Ya know. The first story I told you," Conway mentioned, "The Undine's Cove."

**. : + : .**

**The Undine's Cove**

The sight that lay out in front of Salina was one that she could only call beautiful. A large white sand beach lay out in front of her, sitting next to a large, blue cove like a crescent moon. Behind the beach was a thick tropical forest and large rock walls surrounded the entire cove, only three small openings in it acting as entrances, one out in the water, one facing Hargeon, and one in the opposite direction. Salina could feel happiness bubble up in her at the sight of the cove and she noted a change in temperature around her, it had become warmer, especially for November.

"Do you remember the story?" Lugus asked as he walked out into the cove in front of Salina, the young man wearing his blue cloak and hold his magic staff, which was an ornate white staff that was decorated with a golden hook on the top that held three silver rings in it, "They say that many years ago the Undines that lived in this place were tasked with guarding an evil magical artifact of great power, but since then the Undines disappeared. Either they left or were killed. Perhaps they were even driven mad by the artifact, but no one knows for sure if that tale is even true. Heh… father probably gave it a happy ending."

Salina merely stood there in the cove, taking in Lugus' words. She could feel the wind growing warmer as it blew across the beach. Something about that place made her feel at peace and it seemed that everything around her emulated that feeling.

Lugus looked down at Salina for a moment more before she finally looked at him. She was ready to learn how to control magic, how to be a mage, how to fight, how to protect, she was ready to learn all of it and he could tell just by the look in the young girl's eyes, "All right then. Let's begin."

**. : + : .**

**July 4****th****, X749, The Undine's Cove**

"All right, faster Salina!" Lugus ordered as the now ten year old girl leapt at him, attempting to strike Lugus in side as he pushed her leg away with his staff, sending her flying behind him due to the momentum she had built up, "Don't be afraid to use your magic now."

Salina crawled back to her feet, looking over at Lugus as she clenched her fists, the air beginning to swirl around them before she charged again with a yell.

"Root," the older mage mumbled as Salina suddenly found herself falling forward head first, impacting against the sand with a thump.

"Ow," Salina moaned as she lifted herself up, looking back at her feet and seeing the magic bindings coming out of the ground and wrapping around her ankles. Lugus' magic wasn't necessarily meant for solo combat, but his Enchantment Magic was excellent when it came to supporting allies and weakening enemies. She supposed that was why he studied strategy and magics that he didn't have so much.

"I even gave you a hint," Lugus chuckled as he walked over to Salina.

"How was I supposed to know what you meant?" Salina grumbled as she laid back down on her stomach since she couldn't do anything else.

"You know how I fight though," the now eighteen year old man responded, "Remember, fight smarter, not harder."

"I know," she sighed, having grown a bit tired of hearing him repeat that phrase over and over as Lugus dispelled the magic bindings.

"Try again?" he asked as the young girl stood back up, smiling, "I'll take that as a yes then," Lugus chuckled as he walked a good ten paces away before they resumed training.

**. : + : .**

**May 28****th****, X752, The Undine's Cove**

Salina glided through the air, ice trailing beneath as she used her magic freeze the water in the air. Lugus was right, her magic was amazing. So long as it was a part or product of weather or the climate, it was under her power and the things she could do were amazing. With Lugus' help she had learned to control the wind, the rain, snow, hail, lightning, fog, and even air pressure. Although, she still had trouble controlling it sometimes since her emotions were connected to her magic.

"Lugus!" Salina gasped as the ice abruptly stopped, sending Salina plummeting down to the ground.

"Enchantment Magic: Force Step!" Lugus shouted as he held out his staff in front of him, sending a wave of an invisible force towards Salina before she hit the ground, sending her out over the water just in time to break her fall safely, "You all right?" he asked as Salina surfaced, her head coming out of the water as her hair fell in her face.

"I'm fine," Salina pouted as she brushed her wet hair out of her face before swimming back to shore.

"Maybe you should wait a while before trying to fly again," Lugus suggested, "Your control isn't quite good enough it seems."

"Fine…" the girl sighed as she walked out of the water, disappointed that she wouldn't get to fly until her control had gotten better.

"Let's call it a day while we're at it. You need to get out of those wet clothes and dry off," Lugus added before the two began walking back to Hargeon.

**. : + : .**

**August 14****th****, X755 in Hargeon Town, the Velvet Residence**

Salina reclined on the couch in the open living room, her feet propped up on the coffee table in front of her. The young girl was now sixteen years old and she stood at 5'6" with naturally pale skin, a thin waist, and an average sized bust for her age. She was toned and fit after eight years of training and long silverish blue hair was tied into braid at the base of her neck while her bangs framed her face and her slanted blue eyes held a look of confidence in them. She was wearing a light blue coat that fell halfway down her thighs that had black trimmings and was held closed by a brown belt buckled around her waist over the coat. Underneath the coat she wore a purple t-shirt that was tucked into a pair of black jean shorts that were held up by a brown leather belt. Salina also wore a pair of brown boots and her purple, oil-paper umbrella sat on the couch next to her.

The young girl's thoughts had been wandering back to Enca over the recent few months. She didn't remember her village too well, but she could never forget that fateful night. The fire, the sound of thunder, the metallic scent of blood. She could remember it all vividly.

"Salina, it's raining out," she heard Lugus call out from his usual spot at the dinner table, cup of tea in one hand and an open book in the other.

Lugus hadn't changed much over the years. She noticed that he had grown to stand at 6'1" and his hair was a bit longer, but not much had changed about him at all.

Salina let out a sigh as she looked over at the window, emptying her thoughts of the massacre of her village as the rain slowly came to a stop.

"Annoying," she grumbled. That was the inconvenient thing about her magic, her emotions would cause the weather to change and Lugus would usually always have her correct the weather if she unknowingly caused it to change, and she was getting sick of him getting onto her about it.

"Somethin' wrong?" the large Conway Velvet asked as he walked through the front door, the old man having learned that usually Salina was thinking of her village when a quick rain shower that ended just as fast as it started came over the town.

"Velvet-san," Salina gasped, "I was just… um…" she muttered.

"Thinking of home?" Lugus chimed in.

"Yes," the girl admitted.

"You've been thinkin' O' that for a while now," Conway pointed out as he walked over to an armchair next the couch and sat down on it, "Is somethin' bothering you about it?"

"I just… well," Salina started to say before an agitated look crossed her face as she sat up, slamming her feet on the ground in front of her as she leaned forward a clamped a hand on her forehead, "I don't know! It's just why!? I don't get why I'm thinking of it and I don't know why it happened! Was it because I could be a mage? Was it random? Did they kill everyone because they were just bored and thought we'd be easy to kill!? It's just… freaking why! WHY!?" she screamed as she slammed her free hand on the table.

Conway looked at the young girl, who was now close to crying and he could tell that she was feeling all sorts of bad emotions at the moment as the wind had picked up heavily outside as hail began falling from the sky. He knew that she had been mulling over this in her head for a long while and she was at a difficult age. Thinking about it only left her angrier and with no more answers than before, just more questions, and that only left her frustrated. This wasn't something that she could understand just by thinking about it and it would continue to eat her up on the inside until something was done.

"Father," the old sailor heard his son call out, Lugus having gotten up and walked over next to him, "May I make a suggestion?"

"What?"

"I think Salina should return to Enca. See what answers she can find if it means so much to her," Lugus suggested, his words catching Salina's attention as she quickly locked her eyes on him.

"Enca huh?" Conway repeated, "That's a long way away."

"Velvet-san… I need to know," Salina pleaded as she looked back at the old man.

"Sigh… All right, you can go. But only if you let Lugus go with ya. He'll look out for ya and make sure yer safe, right?" he said as he looked up at his son.

"Of course," Lugus nodded as Salina's eyes lit up, "But you'll have to let me be in charge of planning the journey and listen to what I say."

Salina merely looked at Lugus, unsure of what to say. She had been impatient and rude to him for the past few weeks, but he still didn't seem upset with her at all. In fact he had been acting kinder than usual, but she still snapped at him and felt annoyed by him.

"All right," she finally managed to say, "When do we leave?"

"Hm… We'll leave in a week," Lugus answered after a moment of thought, "But first, we have to prepare. This could take us more than a year, so we have to be well prepared," he continued before looking over at his father, "Are you sure you'll be all right without us?"

"Aye, I'll be fine," Conway answered, "Salina needs this. The girl needs closure and this'll get her just that. So I'll be fine."

"Thank you," Salina whispered, drawing a look from both Conway and Lugus, "Thank you both so much."

Lugus and Conway simply smiled at the young girl before Lugus walked over to her and rested a hand on her shoulder, "This is what family does, don't you remember?" he stated as Salina's mind recalled all of the happy moments with her family. All of the meals, birthdays, shopping trips, scoldings, and sacrifices they made for her.

"I… I remember… Lugus-nii," she whispered, her tears finally spilling over, but she wasn't sad or angry anymore. She was happy, relieved, and excited that she would finally get answers as an eight year long period of her life would finally be able to come to a close as she prepared to set out on her first great adventure.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there it is! The second part of Salina's Historical Omake! Next time I write about her past will be the start of her first adventure and it'll take her all the way back to Enca (if you didn't gather that from the omake) so it'll take quite a few parts. And well, her historical omakes are basically a story within a story anyways, so she was going to have the most omakes regardless.

Anyways, I'm going to try and get more writing done over my Thanksgiving Break next week cause I only have two days of classes next week, being Monday and Tuesday, so I get a whole three days off!

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the omake and please remember to leave a review!

Your host,

Dreadburner94.


	32. Historical Omake: Camille Arturia Part 3

**A/N: **Well, it would seem that I've hopefully found my spark to continue writing this, which is a bit of a good thing, so I'm going to try and write another historical omake to see if it's really back. But yeah, just so you all know, I had lost my inspiration largely due to not hearing much from you guys, especially when it came to how well I write your characters, so I felt like I had made no improvements on my writing. So, I have come to a decision, if I don't hear too much about certain characters (and I'm not saying any names unless asked in a PM) and how well I write them, they probably won't receive too great a role in the story since an OC guild story is like a two-way conversation. You guys give me details on characters, good ideas and whatnot, and I tie it all together into a story. So if I don't hear anything from all of you, that makes it quite a bit harder on me. Make sense?

Well asides for that nitty-gritty business, there is something that I'd like to request of those of you who have submitted characters, which is that I would like you all to take the personality sections of your OC's profile, and expand it. This will help add some more depth and give me a better idea of how the characters act, so I would really appreciate it if you all would do that for me. Well then, I've got nothing else to say, so onto to the reviews.

I'd like to thank WaterDragonMaverick, MyDearWatson, Shiro4th, lexlovesya, FrozenBlast13 and ManhattanTheory for their reviews for the omake!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Happy to hear that you enjoyed the omake. And due to what is planned for the artifact and the cove, I'm probably going to have to say no to that. And yeah, Lugus is rather nice, as for what's happened to him, well, it's been mentioned/hinted at a few times now, but what exactly happened remains a mystery. And I actually did tell you what Rayner's eye colors were in chapter 1, but when I went through the prologue I decided to add it in there as well. And I'll get around to revamping the rest of it later I'm sure. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

**MyDearWatson- **Glad to hear that you liked the omake. And yeah, it's a bit heartwarming to see her with Conway and Lugus, and yeah, I rather like writing Lugus as well. As for what happened to him, you'll all just have to wait and see. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Shiro4th- **Yeah, most historical omakes will probably leave you with questions, but that's what the parts 2, 3, 4 etc. are for should the character's omakes run that long. To be honest, I don't think some characters (and I won't say any names) have enough for more than one part, which is a problem honestly. But anyways yeah, Lugus is a kind person, Conway as well, and it's thanks to them that Salina is the person that she is in the current timeline to be honest.

**lexlovesya- **I'm happy to hear that you like Salina so much! And yeah, she's one of my favorites as well. And for a bit of background on her name, Salina is based on the name Selina, which is a variant of Selene, which means "moon" in Greek. Tsukiko is a Japanese name that is split into two characters: Tsuki, which means moon, and Ko, which means child, so it means "moon child". But yeah, you'll be learning more about all of the characters as the story goes along. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter.

**FrozenBlast13- **Hehe, happy to hear that you like Salina and the Velvets so much, and yeah, originally Lugus was going to be a bit more of a silent type, but it just worked out so much better to make him a kind and friendly older brother kind of guy for Salina. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**ManhattanTheory- **I'm happy to hear that you all enjoyed the omake!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

* * *

><p><strong>Historical Omake: Camille Arturia Part 3<strong>

**June 13****th****, X785, Crocus, the Lohr Dojo**

It was a calm afternoon, the sun was setting as the people of Crocus began to wrap up their business for the day, the chorus of crickets and cicadas beginning to chirp in harmony. Quick shouts could be heard from one of the training rooms of the Lohr Dojo, as usual, since the Ealdwine's adopted daughter Camille was practicing her martial arts, steadily punching the air, one fist right after another as sweat fell from the young girl's brow. Camille was currently wearing a white fighter's gi, a common garb in the dojo since the dojo was regularly used for martial arts classes held by Quinn, or her father Christopher.

Camille continued practicing until she saw Quinn enter the room, the woman briefly showing a look of pride at seeing Camille's diligence.

"You're still at it?" Quinn asked as she stepped further into the room, Camille not slowing down for a moment, "The day's almost over you know?"

"And I'll keep going until the sun's gone," Camille responded in between punches, "Master has finally started teaching me Gunblade Magic last year, but I keep messing it all up, just like my Wind Magic," she added, berating herself, "I'm still too weak."

Quinn inwardly sighed. If there was one thing she really didn't like about Camille, it was how hard she was on herself. Although, Quinn knew that she couldn't understand what it was like growing up in a noble house, but Camille wasn't the first person she had met that had grew up in that lifestyle, "Camille, listen," she said, causing the young girl to stop punching the air, "Zander doesn't expect you to be perfect at your magic. It took him several years to create Gunblade Magic and even when I first met him, it really was still a work in progress. So I don't think you need to be so hard on yourself, it isn't healthy, you know?" she added as she grabbed a nearby rag as she bent down and began to wipe the sweat off of Camille's forehead and face, "So call it a day, all right?"

Camille puffed her cheeks in slight irritation for a moment before exhaling with a sigh, "All right," she conceded.

"Great," Quinn smiled as she stood back up straight, "Can you go find the other kids then? It's almost time to eat and I've got to get back to the kitchen or else Zander will burn it all."

"He's not that bad at cooking is he?" Camille asked before shaking her head, "Never mind, I'll go find them all."

"Thanks," Quinn said as she left the room with a short wave, leaving Camille so that she could begin changing, the girl quickly changing into a pair of black jeans and t-shirt before running off to search the dojo for Jareth, Quill and Lynn.

Camille eventually came across the backyard as she opened the sliding doors, finding the three of them to all be there.

"He's at it again," Camille said lowly as she watched Jareth tease Quill, Lynn being too shy to stop him.

"Oh, Camille," Lynn said quietly as she watched her walk up the group, the young red-headed girl wearing a pair of black shorts with a red-shirt.

Camille quickly nodded at Lynn before turning a hard stare on Jareth, "What are you doing?" she asked in a hard tone.

"I'm just messing with him," Jareth huffed, "Why do you have to butt in like usual?"

"You were giving Quill a hard time for not being able to use magic again, weren't you?" she asked, ignoring his grumpy attitude.

"He's just upset that he still can't beat you in a swordfight," Quill mumbled, Jareth quickly turning a hard look back at Quill.

"Shut up! You always have to mention that don't you!?" he shouted before a smirk crossed his face, "I get it, you always bring it up since you're jealous. You know, since you can't use magic and all," Jareth added, before holding up his hand in the air, shooting off a few dark green bullets of magic into the air with his Bullet Magic, "Go on, admit it."

"Jareth," Lynn said quietly, a conflicted look crossing her face while Quill took a few steps closer to Jareth, hardly an inch between them before he quickly and abruptly grabbed his older brother's shirt, staring into his eyes.

"Quill! Jareth! Stop it" Camille shouted, trying to get them to stop, but something was wrong. Quill's eyes seemed… empty, yet his stare was so fierce that Jareth couldn't look away.

"Memory Take: The Extraction of One," Quill mumbled, as if in a trance before he felt power and memories begin to surge through him.

"I remember this spell," Camille muttered as her mind went back to the events from a year ago, when Quinn had fought that man, Emil Gunvor, "Lynn! Stay here!" she shouted as she quickly took off to find Quinn, the young girl quickly making her way to the kitchen, practically throwing the door open as she found Quinn and Zander sitting in the kitchen.

"Camille, what's wrong?" Zander asked as he and Quinn watched bend over while panting.

"It's Quill, something's happening. He's using 'Extraction of One' on Jareth," she explained quickly as Quinn and Zander quickly locked eyes, a look of terror in both of their expressions, before they bolted from the table towards the backyard, the both of them feeling like they had never moved faster in their lives.

"Dammit," Zander cursed, "He's still extracting the magic," he added as he took a step towards his sons.

"Wait!" Quinn called out, grabbing Zander's shoulder, "Remember, if we stop it now it'll do even more damage."

"Tch… So all we can do is watch then," he said lowly as Lynn walked over to their side.

"Are they going to be all right?" she asked as Camille finally made it back to the backyard.

Quinn was quiet, a look of concern and fear on her face as Zander knelt down in front of Lynn, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Yeah, everything will be okay," he promised, although he was feeling a great amount of uncertainty as well.

"It's almost over," Quinn muttered, "Get ready to catch Jareth, I'll get Quill," she said as she walked around so that she could catch Quill, while Zander moved behind Jareth. Soon the spell ended as both boys began to stumble away from each other, both of them now unconscious. Quinn looked down at Quill, scared out of her mind, "This was the one thing I didn't want either of them to inherit from me," she said softly, and firm hand on her shoulder interrupting her as she looked up to see Zander, a look in his eye that silently told her that everything would be all right.

Camille solemnly watched the scene, knowing there was nothing she could do right now but watch after Lynn, the emotional stress of the situation having caused her magic to flare up, "Are you all right?" she asked, after noticing the blood beginning to soak the bandages on her forearms.

"I'll be fine," Lynn answered softly, "They don't need to be concerned over me right now, but…" she began to say before trailing off, Camille giving her a curious look before Lynn shook her head, "It's nothing."

"If you're sure," Camille responded, "Come on, let's go change your bandages and clean the cuts," she said as she started to look for the first aid kit, Lynn following her.

Eventually, Camille found the first aid kit in the kitchen under the sink and the two girls sat down at the table, Camille beginning to unwrap Lynn's bandages. In all actuality, it was the first time she had been the one to do so, so what Lynn's forearms looked like surprised her. The girl's arms were mired with scars and burns, blades piercing through her arms like blood soaked scales that covered a large portion of her arms.

"Do the Blade Works scare you?" Lynn asked quietly, Camille looking up at her in shock, "There are more you haven't seen yet… on my back and legs," the girl said as she lifted up her shirt and pant leg slightly, showing the bandages on her torso and thigh.

"What happened to you?" Camille whispered, not meaning to actually ask out loud.

"I was… kidnapped and they…" Lynn began explaining, "They turned me into this… a weapon… and I… I… I," she started to say, before she began sobbing.

"Lynn, it's all right, you don't have to tell me," Camille said, a sense of urgency in her voice as she watched Lynn's magic begin to act up, the blades on her arms starting to grow larger, cutting open the wounds further as more blades started to poke through her flesh, "Lynn!" she shouted as she watched the girl scream in pain, "You have to calm down, please!"

"What's going on!?" Zander asked as he ran into the room, seeing Lynn in the state she was, "Lynn!"

"Gah! It hurts, it burns," Lynn gasped as she grabbed one of the larger blades in her left arm, before starting to pull on it, "Get out!" she screamed with a yell of pain as she pulled the blade clean out of her arm, the girl now holding a blade larger than a dagger in her right hand, which was now seeping with blood, "This is…" she said calmly, an empty look in her eyes before she dropped the blade as she looked down at her arm, the exit wound the blade made being stitched closed by tiny blades, "It feels better," Lynn continued as she grabbed another blade in her arm.

"Lynn, that's enough," Zander said in a hard tone, "If you keep this up you'll die of blood loss."

"But it feels better," Lynn pleaded, "That spot doesn't hurt anymore!"

"But if you keep it up it'll kill you."

"A weapon like me doesn't deserve to live anyway!"

"Marilynn Lindwyrm Ealdwine!" Zander shouted as he grabbed her right arm, despite the blades cutting into his own hand now, "Never say that again. I promised your mother, I promised my sister that I would look out for you and teach you how to control this. So never say anything like that again. Please."

Camille watched the two of them, this was the second time today that she had been absolutely useless. But it was even worse this time, since she may have been the one to cause it, 'Am I really that worthless, father? I've caused nothing but trouble today' she thought to herself as she grasped her left arm, he bangs shading her eyes.

**. : + : .**

"Sounds like it's been a busy day for you," a woman with long red hair sighed as she and Zander stood outside of the front of the dojo, leaning up against the wall.

"Yeah," Zander replied quickly, "First Quill turns out to be a Memory Take mage and then Lynn's magic acts up… Can I really teach her how to control that?"

"Alexander," the woman said in a hard tone, "If anyone can, it's you. I'm sure of it."

"At least someone has confidence in me," Zander sighed as he looked over at the woman, since she had been standing on his blind side, "How goes your search, sister?" he asked, looking his sister, Evelyn F. Ealdwine Lindwrym in the eyes.

Evelyn stood at 5'10" with light tan skin, a fit build and an above average sized bust. Her long red hair would fall most of the way down her legs, but it was tied up into a high ponytail while her bangs were much shorter, framing her face and covering her forehead. She was dressed casually, the woman wearing a gray shirt under a white jacket that had gold trimmings on it with a pair of blue jeans and simple sandals, but she was usually seen in her Rune Knight uniform.

"I can't find any trace of this Emil kid… I know that he's an orphan from Lupinus Town originally, but he's just disappeared completely ever since Quinn fought him," Evelyn explained, a disheartened look on her face, "At this rate… I'll never be able to help Lynn… She's my daughter, so why am I so useless when she needs me? Was there really nothing that would help her in those memories?"

Zander exhaled as he leaned his head back, looking up at the sky, "No. Quinn has memories of the ritual that placed that sword in her, but she has no memories of the research so she can't understand how it works at all."

"I hate to do it, but perhaps that slime, Wymond, might know something," Evelyn said in a disgusted tone. She had never liked Head Researcher Wymond Bishop even before he got the position from the council.

"No. I don't like him and I don't want you to be indebted to that man either," Zander said in a hard tone, "He has too many secrets."

"True… I can't bring the Captain into all of this either," Evelyn sighed before looking back at Zander, "You know… I'm thinking about resigning from the Rune Knights."

"What?"

"I just… the work keeps me away from my daughter too much and with her father gone… I want to be there for her, like a mother should be," Evelyn explained softly, "It's not like I don't have any money and somehow… all of my financial debts from when I was a reckless young Lieutenant have been paid."

"What about your husband's estate?" Zander asked, "I know it's not too far from Crocus, but it's rather large… and all of those wyverns the family kept."

"I'll probably have to keep it," Evelyn smiled, "Lynn loves all of the wyverns too much for me to get rid of them all. She'd hate me if I did."

"Well if you won't be in law enforcement, what will you do?" Zander asked before a smirk crossed his face, "I can't imagine Evelyn Ealdwine Lindwyrm sitting down to sip tea and entertain guests all day like a proper noblewoman, although mother might be proud of you for once if you did."

"Hm… Perhaps demolition?" Evelyn mused as a terrified expression crossed Zander's face, "What? I do have a natural talent for tearing things down after all."

"Heh, somehow, it fits," Zander chuckled as he looked back up at the night sky.

**. : + : .**

**August 2****nd****, X785**

Camille stood in the backyard holding her sword out in front of her, Zander and Jareth standing behind her on the porch. She took a deep breath as she opened her eyes.

"Gunblade: Load," she said quietly as the hilt of the sword lit up with the golden magic image, thirty ticks lining it, "Homing Shot!" she announced as she swung her sword down, releasing a small, violent burst of wind towards the target.

"That was…" Zander muttered before walking over to Camille, "Why was it wind?" he asked as he examined the sword in Camille's hands.

"Is it not supposed to be?" Camille asked.

"No, that should've been pure magic. You're not using a magic sword," Zander explained before giving her a different sword out of his requip space, "Try that one," he said as he watched Camille's spell give the same results, "Flamberge," he announced as a steel broadsword with a red cloth tied around its handle and a fire lachrima imbedded into it appeared in his hand, "Try this," he said as they traded swords.

"Load! Homing Shot!" Camille shouted as once again, the spell took on the Wind Element.

"That should've been fire," Zander muttered as he remembered something, "You said that your father was teaching you Wind Magic, right?" he asked, Camille nodding in response, "That's what it is then…" he said sadly.

"What's wrong?" Camille asked, "Is there no way to fix this?"

"There is but… It has a high cost," Zander began, "You'd have to forget Wind Magic completely, and there's only one way I know of to do that," he continued, a sad look on his face as he looked through one of the windows, seeing Quinn and Quill training inside, "Memory Take. You'd forget every memory you have of training to learn the magic and I don't want to force that on you."

"I… I see," Camille said sadly. Her parents were gone and she already had few memories of actually spending time with them. Those moments of training, even though she was a disappointment to her father until the bitter end… she cherished those memories too much to give them up. Camille slowly turned from Zander and began walking back to the dojo.

"Camille," Jareth said quietly as she walked past him, not saying anything as she let her bangs cover her eyes, "She's crying," he whispered as he watched her walk slowly inside.

Camille trudged into her room, quietly shutting the door as she finally let her tears spill over, "I really can't do anything right, can I?" she sobbed as she sat down, her back against the door, "Everything I do, I mess up. I could never learn Wind Magic and I can't even properly learn to use Gunblade Magic… I really am… a disappointment," Camille looked up at her dresser, seeing her father's sword sitting on top of it in its sheath. The young girl stood up and walked slowly over to the sword, picking it up, "This is… my sword, my tear… Arturia's Tear, a sword of sorrow and pain that holds a lonely vigil, only an incompetent wielder to hold it," she whispered as she unsheathed the blade from its royal blue and gold embellished sheath, revealing the fine blade, the light glinting off of it, "I suppose, this is all I have from that life… What would father say?"

"_You truly have been… nothing but a disappointment… since the day you were born."_

"_Try harder!"_

"_If you do not wish to get hurt, then grow stronger!"_

"_You should know better than to whine about fairness."_

"_You're in here? Instead of out there, trying to make me proud?"_

"_I look forward to it."_

"He was right," Camille muttered, wiping her tears away, "I am a disappointment, I always have been… But I have to try harder," she said as she sheathed the sword, finding a belt and strapping the sword and sheath to her back, "If I don't want to get hurt, then I should grow stronger!" Camille continued, a resolute look on her face, "Nothing's fair, not in life, battle, or magic, so I can't whine about it. And I… I need to get back to training. If I sit around in here, I'll never make him proud…" she said as she turned and began walking towards the door, "After all, he said he was looking forward to it," she finished as she opened the door, taking a few steps out to see Zander.

"I came to cheer you up, but it sounds like someone important to you beat me to the punch," Zander smirked, "Have you hardened your resolve any?"

Camille looked up at Zander, briefly seeing the scar over his closed, left eye. She could tell, that Zander had sacrificed much to become the man he was today and he had just read her like a book. The two of them seemed like kindred spirits, cut from the same cloth, "Master, have you ever fought… to prove that you weren't a disappointment?" Camille asked sincerely, earning a warm smile from the man.

"All my life and I'm still trying to prove it to them," he answered.

"Who?"

"Several people… and it's made me the enemy of several people I care for," Zander explained, "But… I think it's all been worth it and someone has even fought and died for me, I want to live up to their expectations the most," he continued before falling silent, "Camille, let me honest with you. When I found you, I took you in because you reminded me of myself. A young child with no parents, forced to leave the place you call home, nothing but a sword to keep you company. I would've died if not for my first teacher, Sieglinde Wolfram."

"Wolfram," Camille repeated, "Isn't that-?"

"Quill's middle name," Zander finished, "And that necklace was her parting gift to me when she died," he said, reaching out to touch the necklace around Camille's neck.

"Why did you give it to me on that day?" Camille asked, "It's important to you."

"I gave it to you, because you were going to be my student. Now I want you to keep it, because you're more important to me than a necklace," he answered, placing the hand that was touching the necklace on her shoulder, "Camille, you've never been a disappointment to me, Quinn, Jareth, Quill, Lynn, Evelyn, or even the old man. You're our daughter, their sister, her cousin, her niece and his granddaughter. You're part of our family. All right?"

Camille looked at Zander, speechless. She knew all of these things, but if felt like she had… forgotten them, but Camille continued looking at Zander, and she smiled and nodded, "All right, I won't forget it again."

**. : + : .**

**September 29****th****, X786**

"I can do it…" Lynn exhaled nervously, "I can do it… Blade Works: Steel Edge!" she announced as a rod of metal pierced out of the top of her right shoulder before she grabbed it with her left hand and pulled it clean out, revealing a long, slightly curved katana blade that had no handle or hilt. Lynn quickly pulled the bandages off of her left forearm and wrapped them around the bottom of the blade, grasping it in her left hand as she felt her magic stitch the open wound in her right should closed.

Camille would've winced at the sight, but she had grown used to seeing it since Zander wanted the two girls to train together so that Lynn could improve her swordsmanship while utilizing her magic.

The now thirteen year old Camille had grown to stand at 5'2" and she was fit and slim, her blond hair being tied into a ponytail at the base of her neck while her bangs covered her forehead and framed her face. She was wearing a burgundy shirt with a pair of black jeans, and she would be wearing a pair of burgundy shoes if she wasn't inside of the dojo.

The now ten year old Lynn stood at 4'7", her dark red hair contrasting against her light tan skin and steel gray eyes. Her hair was short, being worn in a slightly spiky bobcut and she wore a red t-shirt that fell off of her right shoulder with a pair of her own black jeans, and she would've been wearing a pair of black canvas shoes, had she not been inside the dojo.

"You made a poor choice of swords," Camille said, holding up Arturia's Tear in front of her with both hands, the sword being too large for her to wield with just one.

"It's too late now," Lynn huffed, flinching after moving her right arm slightly, "So let's start already," she said before giving a moment for Camille to get ready before charging her, Camille letting her take the first attack, which was a hard downward slash that Camille blocked before spinning to the left out from under Lynn's blade, sending out a hard horizontal strike that Camille expected to bend Lynn's blade, but instead she saw a spray of blood, Lynn having stopped the sword with her right arm, the scale-like blades under her skin acting as a shield, "Hrrk! Gah! I've got it," Lynn gasped as she grabbed Camille's sword by the blade.

"Are you insane!?" Camille screamed, recalling her sword into her requip space, revealing the large cuts on Lynn's arm and hand.

"A weapon like a sword can't go through this weapon," Lynn said softly, holding out her right arm, "And I can take advantage of that, even though it hurts," she explained, before wincing in pain, feeling the blades beneath her skin begin to become agitated as a few began piercing through.

"It's still suicidal!" Camille shouted, "Don't you ever do that again unless absolutely necessary!"

Lynn smiled at Camille, even though she was being scolded by her. Camille had really begun to act like an older sister to her, Jareth and Quill lately and it was… nice, and of course the fact that her own mother had made herself more available, now that she was no longer a Rune Knight, seemed like a dream.

"Are you listening?" Camille asked in a hard tone, looking down at the younger girl with a glare, Lynn having been too occupied with her own thoughts to listen to Camille's lecture, leaving the younger girl to respond with nothing but a nervous laugh.

"You two finished?" they heard Zander ask, turning to see the man standing in the doorway.

"Master! Lynn is being reckless!"

"I heard the entire thing, Camille," Zander chuckled, causing the girl to sweatdrop at the thought of her being loud enough for him to hear from elsewhere, "But she's right Lynn, I don't want you pulling a stunt like that during training either, all right? You've made a lot of progress and it's been a long time since your magic last went out of control, I don't want to lose all that progress."

"I understand," Lynn answered, feeling a tad guilty.

"All right then, I want you two to come with me," Zander stated, turning to walk away from the training room, the two girls exchanging looks before following him, eventually they all stopped in the living room, seeing Quinn, Christopher, Quill and Jareth already there waiting for them along with Zander. They watched Zander take a seat next to Quinn before they moved to find their own seats near Jareth and Quill, Camille making sure that Quill was between her and Christopher so that he'd be more likely to hug Quill than her.

"Well then, care to start?" Quinn asked, looking over at Zander, the man nodding in response.

"All right. Camille. Jareth. Lynn," he said, looking at each one of them in turn, "I've decided that I think you're all ready for your first mission," he announced, earning a cheer from Jareth, a determined look from Camille and a nervous look from Lynn.

"What's the mission?" Jareth asked excitedly, "Are we fighting monsters?"

"Heh, I'm not sure yet," Zander admitted, "I'll be taking you all to Balsam so that we can visit Midnight Haven and get a mission from there, we'll be picking up Amalia as well."

"Really? Amalia?" Jareth whined, "But she's so bossy, like Camille," he added, earned a glare from the mentioned party.

"The point is teamwork," Zander explained, "If you want to be a mage, you'll have to learn to work with people you don't get along with. Right, Quinnie?"

"What did I tell you about that nickname!?" Quinn bit back, earning a chuckle from Zander, although it was short-lived as she smacked him upside the head.

"So violent," Zander sighed, "Well, we leave for Balsam tomorrow, so you three should get ready."

"What about Quill?" Camille asked while Jareth and Lynn stood up.

"We decided that he isn't ready for a mission yet," Quinn explained, "I made the decision," she added as Christopher grabbed Quill, pulling him into a hug.

"And my little grandson is too young to be going off on dangerous missions," the older man added, Camille merely happy that it wasn't her being hugged by the man.

"Well, there's that and the fact that he's still too inexperienced to use Memory Take on real opponents," Quinn said quietly, "We were lucky that it was Jareth he took memories from first to be honest. I don't want to know what would've happened if it was a dark mage."

"In any case, Quinn will be staying here so that she can keep training Quill," Zander added, "Now then, I've got to head out to buy some supplies for the mission. You should go get ready," Zander said as he stood up, Camille nodding in agreement before walking out.

**. : + : .**

Camille walked through the streets of Crocus, a feeling of uncertainty welling up in her chest. Could she really accomplish the mission? She couldn't use Gunblade Magic's greatest strength, its versatility in elemental affinity. She supposed that it wouldn't be too difficult a mission really. Zander wouldn't choose something too dangerous for their first mission and he would even be coming with them.

"I'm worrying about nothing aren't I?" Camille said out loud as she stopped in front of her destination, the old Arturia Estate. She looked up at the still unoccupied building, looking back down when she heard footsteps approaching.

"If that's what you think… It's probably nothing," the person approaching her said. She was decidedly female by her voice, but she kept her face shrouded with a black hood and cloak. She stood at about 5'8" and she had a slim build, and from what Camille could see of her face, she was rather pale, "But you're feeling uneasy aren't you?" the person asked, Camille turning to look at her, but the person had vanished, "That feeling, could mean something very bad is in store for you…" the person continued, her voice revealing her to be behind Camille now, "Or perhaps, this is the beginning of something."

"The beginning of what?" Camille asked, fear starting to bubble up in her.

"Who knows?" the person said as they appeared in front of the estate, "It could be destiny… a long battle that you've been unaware of, that he has kept hidden from you… or maybe even the end," the person continued cryptically as she opened the front door of the estate, which should've been locked, "Maybe… It's all three of those things."

"What do you mean? You're not making any sense."

"Hmph… He cares for you doesn't he?" the person asked before shaking their head, "It doesn't matter. Everything is about to begin and the world will remember to fear their Nightmares again," she continued before stepping away from the doorway, "Would you like to take a peak of what's to come?"

Camille looked at the person with a large amount of suspicion as she slowly took a step forward. She felt as though she shouldn't, like she was accepting some sort of forbidden fruit from this person, but she wanted to understand what they meant. Camille slowly peered into the estate, it being unusually dark inside for the time of day it was.

"You cannot discover secrets unless you step all the way in," the person said, urging Camille to step further in, "One day, you and I will be one and the same… I know it… Nightmare of Tribulation: Insanity" the person whispered as the door slammed shut behind Camille, leaving her in complete darkness.

**. : + : .**

"_Where… Is this?"_

"_How… Did I get here?"_

Those were the only thoughts that floated through Camille's mind. She saw people in her mind that she had never met and a place she had never been. She was there, with those people and she seemed… happy. But that happiness turned to fear. She saw herself, yet not herself. She was angry, hateful, spiteful. She loathed humanity and even those who seemed to be her friends, but the oddest thing was… that there were two of her. There was that her that was not her, and then there was her, older, more confident, kind and brave, but then, the other her killed her and took her place. Then she began killing those close to her, a boy with a strange tattoo, a redheaded man with a mask, a girl with catlike eyes and then… Zander.

Camille couldn't stand watching it anymore, "Stop it!" she screamed, her voice echoing in the darkness and the other her seemed to take notice and began walking closer. She stood at 5'9" with ghostly pale skin and bleach blond hair that was tied into a long ponytail that ended just above her rear while her bangs were cut just above her eyes and framed her face. She was wearing a short black and white dress that was adorned with white frills on the bottom of it and on the ends of the baggy sleeves. The dress had a small opening it as well, just above the chest, revealing a bit of her cleavage, and it had two black belts crossing the front and back of the skirt. She also wore a pair of black leggings that were tucked into a pair of black, heeled boots that ended halfway up her calves. Resting on her shoulders was a blood red cloak with a hood, and in her hand was a blood soaked blade that looked like a blackened version of her own sword, Arturia's Tear, but it was covered with glowing red runes all along the blade. The other her walked up to Camille, an emotionless look on her face before a cruel and cold smirk crossed it as she raised her blade.

"You should just die… and save yourself the trouble of going through so much heartache," the other her said coldly, "Why bother holding onto your miserable life? You're a disappointment to most people you come across. You're ashamed of who you are, were you even aware of that? You'll even betray those you care about and swore to protect… and it'll be all for nothing," the other her continued, the cruel look on her face beginning to twist with amusement at watching the fear grow on Camille's own face, "So tell me… after seeing all of this… Do you still want to live your life? Or… is this what you want?" she asked, placing her black sword into her right hand as she extended her left arm out towards Camille, "It is the only way you'll survive, but you'll have to give something up in return," the other her added as she started lightly cutting Camille's own left arm.

Camille could only look up at this… thing in front of her. She couldn't even remember how she got there. The only thing she could feel was overwhelming fear. It was a nightmare.

"Too scared to answer?" the other her said softly, "I forgot how cowardly you were, it's disgusting really. Should I choose for you?" she asked, holding her sword up to Camille's throat, the young girl quickly falling backwards and scooting away, only for a red lightning bolt to appear out of nowhere behind her, cutting her off, "You shouldn't try to run you know. You could offend me," the other her cruelly teased, like a lion, toying with a mouse before it decides to eat it, "Perhaps you should pray… that this all just a bad dream… But even if it is, you and I are two sides of the same coin, destined to clash… You will never escape."

**. : + : .**

"Where did she go?" Zander asked out loud, finally reaching the old Arturia Estate, this was the last place he had to look, but something was amiss when he reached it, "Why is the door open?" he asked himself as he stepped inside, seeing Camille unconscious on the floor, "Camille!"

"Zander," he heard a familiar voice call out from the side of the grand foyer of the estate, the redhead turning his head to look over at the person.

"Why are you here?" he asked lowly.

"I suppose you could say I've given that girl a warning," the person responded, "But I also came here, to see you."

Zander lifted up Camille in his arms, turning away from the person, "We've both made our own decisions and we both have our own loyalties," Zander began, "My loyalties are to my family and Midnight Haven."

"I know, but I wanted to try one last time," the person said quietly.

"You're not even you anymore, you went and twisted who you are! You broke a taboo," Zander said lowly, "If you want a fight… all you have to do is ask."

"You won't be able to kill me," the person said quietly, "You wouldn't be able to bring yourself to, nor could you. But if you would like to prove something, then maybe you would like to meet one of my pets again. This city has a treasure trove of them hidden beneath it."

"You wouldn't," Zander growled as he threw Camille over his right shoulder, his left hand reaching for the sword on his back.

"You're growing old as well… and soft," the person said lowly, "I haven't," she added, pulling down her hood, "But I have changed."

"You!" Zander gasped. He couldn't believe it, he could still recognize her and she'd hardly aged a day, but several things had changed, most notably her hair and eyes, "Is this a side-effect?" he asked as the person put their hood back on.

"I'll let you leave, Zander," the person announced, "But… I can tell that you're sure that this is what you want. The next time we meet, or I meet that girl, we'll most likely be enemies again. Now leave… please."

Zander watched her for a moment longer before he nodded and began walking out, shifting Camille's unconscious form into a more comfortable position as he walked out of the estate, "Why do they have to drag you into this?" Zander whispered, a sad look on his face.

**. : + : .**

**October 3****rd****, X786, Balsam Village**

The four of them, Zander, Camille, Jareth and Lynn had finally arrived in Balsam after delaying the trip for a few days after Camille fell unconscious. She couldn't remember much of what had happened at all, but she felt like she had a terrifying dream. Zander seemed awfully quiet about what had happened as well, since he said that he only found her after she had fallen unconscious, but nothing more, nor did he ask her any questions about why she was there or if she had any idea why she was unconscious in the first place. Almost as if he knew something, but refused to say anything. Nonetheless, it was hard to remain focused on being suspicious of him in this town. Every building was oriental in style, every restaurant, hotel, hot spring, home and shop in Balsam all followed that style of building. Eventually, Zander lead them all to their destination.

"Welcome to Midnight Haven!" he announced as they stopped in front of a large building. It was only one story, but it appeared to be very large, like an oriental mansion. As they stepped inside the first thing that Camille noticed was the large courtyard and open air concept that the building followed. She wouldn't be surprised if this building really was an oriental mansion at one point before the guild moved in. They saw an older man sitting at one of the low tables on a cushion, a stone cup in his hand and a bottle of sake on the table in front of him, "Oi! Old Man!" Zander shouted, gaining the man's attention before a look of shock crossed his face.

The man quickly stood up, showing himself to stand at about 6'5" with a fit and muscular build for his apparent age, as Camille guessed that he was in his 60's. He had light tan skin with a few wrinkles on his face and droopy, midnight blue eyes. His dark gray hair was kept short, most of it staying buzzed while the hair on top of his head was a bit longer and he had a dark gray goatee as well. He was wearing a dark gray, sleeveless jacket that had black trim and was zipped up, which revealed the silver guild mark on his right shoulder since it was uncovered, and he wore a pair of baggy brown pants that he normally kept tucked into black boots, but he wasn't wearing them at the moment since he was inside. He was also wearing armbands on both of his forearms that matched his jacked, being dark gray with black trim on them.

"Zander!" the man bellowed as he walked over to the group, "How've you been? Keeping well? Keeping rich?" he asked as he smacked Zander on the arm.

"Well enough and rich enough, I suppose," Zander answered, a smile on his face, "Although, we came here in hopes of making a bit more money actually," he said, gesturing to the three kids, "This is the Old Man, Egon Kaiser."

"By Old Man, he means Guild Master," Egon interrupted, "He's just a rude oaf."

"Pleasure to meet you," Camille said with a bow, "My name is Camille Arturia."

"So this is the girl you've mentioned so many times," Egon mused, "Now I know you," he said, pointing at Jareth, the young boy smiling cockily, "So this must be Lynn since I don't see Quill… Unless Quill is a girl… Is Quill a girl? I might've been drunk when I heard the news and have misunderstood you all this time."

"Quill's a boy," Zander sighed, "You know Quinn would kill you ten times over if she heard that right?"

"Oh… Right," Egon chuckled, "She's not here is she?"

"Lucky for you, no," Zander answered, "Now about those jobs."

"Right! The jobs, follow me," Egon said as he led them to the mission board, "Nothing too hard I take it?"

"Yeah."

"Hm… Perhaps this?" Egon muttered as he pulled a form off of the board, "It shouldn't be too difficult or boring."

Zander took a look at the form before looking back up at Egon, "Perfect. Also, I wanted to bring Amalia along to help teach these guys about teamwork. Especially this knucklehead," he added as he lightly bopped Jareth on the head with his fist, earning a huff from the young boy.

"All right then," Egon said as he turned towards a hallway, "AMALIA!" he shouted, a young girl eventually coming to see what Egon wanted.

"What's so important that you couldn't come and walk to me?" the young girl huffed. She seemed a bit younger than Jareth all things considered, if only by a few months, and she was a about an inch shorter than Lynn. She had light brown hair that was tied up into twin tails that fell down to about her midriff and she had light tan skin and midnight blue eyes. She was wearing a royal blue blouse with a white skirt and brown boots, and a midnight blue and gold Midnight Haven guild mark could be seen poking out from under her skirt on her right thigh.

"Because I'm sending you on a mission," Egon laughed, "And I couldn't leave our guests all alone, could I?"

Amalia looked over at the four people standing with her grandfather, she recognized Zander and Jareth, and she knew that Jareth and Quill had a cousin named Lynn, but someone she didn't know was with them, "Who're you?" she asked bluntly, looking straight at Camille.

"Wh-what?" Camille gawked, slightly shocked by the girl's manners, or lack of them rather.

"You're name, what else? Gawd," Amalia rudely huffed.

"Excuse me?" Camille said lowly, her eye twitching with irritation.

"Here we go again," Jareth huffed with a roll of his eyes, knowing full well how Camille could get when irritated.

"Camille," Lynn sighed, feeling like nothing could stop the girl when she was like this.

Zander and Egon merely watched in a small state of shock as a catfight broke out between Camille and Amalia, but they both had quite different reactions when they emerged from their shock, Egon merely laughing while Zander pulled the two girls apart.

"Honestly… You both should know better," Zander sighed, feeling relieved that neither of them resorted to magic.

"Hmph, Jareth on a bad day is more agreeable than her," Camille huffed, turning her back on Amalia, earning a complaint from Jareth that was quickly silenced by a harsh glare.

"I don't see why I should work with someone as stuck up as that person," Amalia huffed in return, also turning her back on Camille.

"You know what, at this point I think you understand teamwork better than her," Zander sighed as he placed a hand on Jareth's shoulder.

"I told you so," he huffed.

"This'll be a long mission, won't it?" Lynn sobbed, worried about their teamwork.

**. : + : .**

It was as Lynn and Zander feared. They're teamwork was horrendous. Amalia and Camille kept rushing in, trying to outdo each other and Jareth didn't make matters any better since he just charged in as well. Zander actually felt sorry for the bandits, since they were all getting hit and cut up by three young mages all trying to outdo each other, but at least it didn't last long for them. Soon the bandit base was in ruins and its inhabitants were all unconscious.

"To sum it up," Zander said lowly as he looked down at Jareth, Amalia and Camille, "Your teamwork was absolutely terrible."

"But-!"

"I don't want to hear it! If you all plan on being mages, you have to learn to work with people you don't like," Zander interrupted as he continued to scold them, "I suppose the one thing you all don't lack is enthusiasm," he sighed as he watched part of the base collapse, "Although you didn't do much of anything," he added as he turned to look at Lynn, causing her sweatdrop at being called out randomly like that.

Despite the scolding, Camille was happy, she had completed her first mission as a mage and Zander didn't even do anything to help them through it. She was proud of her accomplishment and was moving forward.

**. : + : .**

**Premonition: X791, Mt. Zonia**

Camille was terrified. Her heart was pounding against her chest as she ran through the corridors of the horror-filled tower and the breastplate she was wearing didn't help any, although it had saved her life on a few occasions now. She was covered in blood and sweat as she grasped her sword in hand. She had become separated from everyone. Rayner, Alistar, Miriam and even her Master, Zander.

"Please… Please be all right, everyone," Camille prayed before looking down at the metal gauntlet on her left hand, completely ruined and blood soaked after that last beast bit down on her arm. She would've taken it off, but she was worried that she would cause more damage to her arm by doing that. Eventually, Camille reached a large room covered in stone statues that looked like knights in demonic armor. In the last several rooms like this, one of them had to stay behind to fight the Nightmare that waited for them inside, and like Camille expected, standing in the middle of the room was a lone figure wearing a short black and white dress, a red cloak hanging from the figure's shoulders and their face obscured by a blood red hood. In the figure's hands was a pitch black sword that bore glowing red runes, the blade pointing downwards into the ground. Camille slowly walked towards the figure, knowing she would have to fight in order to proceed.

"It's you," the figure said in a sinister tone, her voice sounding oddly familiar to Camille before they removed the hood, revealing a face that was all too familiar to Camille. The figure had her own face.

Camille felt sick just looking at the figure, that other her. Terror welled up in her like never before, making all of the previous battles up until now seem like a game. Now two of the same person stood next to each other, staring each other down.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there it is! Part 3 of Camille's Historical Omake. I honestly really enjoyed writing this as I was feeling a rather overwhelming mix of emotions before I started and I poured every last one into this. Also, I left you all a Premonition to a distant event should I get that far, which is something that I think I might do from time to time in Historical Omakes only. Now onto the credits for the chapter since I've decided to put them down here now.

**Credits:**

**Evelyn Ealdwine Lindwyrm- Dreadburner94**

"**Hooded Person"- Dreadburner94**

"**The Other Her"- Dreadburner94**

**Egon Kaiser- Dreadburner94**

**Amalia Kaiser- Dreadburner94**

So, I rather enjoyed this omake for another reason, which is the fact that I got to write those two characters whose names I have not revealed, both are characters that I have longed to write for a long time now, but I also got to introduce two members of Midnight Haven, as well as Zander Ealdwine's sister, Evelyn, but for more on her and Zander, as well as Quinn, check out Thunder Stone.

Anyways, that's all I have for now and don't forget to leave a review.

Your host,

Dreadburner94.


	33. Council Members, Swords and a Dojo

**A/N: **Well hello once again! Chapter 26 here for ya today!

Now then, I've decided to start up a little something that I find interesting, being that I'm collecting and posting different theme music for different characters and scenarios in this story on my profile. Right now I have music for a few of my own characters and a few different scenarios up on my profile, as well as for one character that is not mine. If you want to tell me what you'd like your own OC's themes to be, just send me a PM and I'll post it on my profile and these songs can be pretty much anything, but I find that music from different animes or games tend to fit best for my own characters, but if you think a song really reflects your OC, just tell me. Also, characters can have multiple themes, for instance Camille as a normal theme, a fight theme and a critical battle theme. Also, I've comprised a list of story arcs on my profile for Undine's Cove, it does run from the start of the story to the eventual end, but it's not complete yet since there are still a lot of spaces to fill in the middle and I've marked some of the spots for character arcs, but a lot of them are blank right now. I'm also leaving out the details for a few of the arcs as well, especially towards the end of the list, to keep what will happen as a secret. So that list will be updated more and more as time goes on and I reveal more and more details about the story.

Okay, one more thing, this is it, I swear! On January 12th, I initiated another challenge with MyDearWatson where we match each other chapter for chapter. This time I go first, so every chapter/omake that I write by the 21st, MyDearWatson has to post the same amount in the same amount of time. This is to celebrate the one year anniversary of the start of the story, which was January 21st, 2014 and I'm hoping to end the challenge with a fun omake.

I'd like to thank WrittenWhim, WaterDragonMaverick, MyDearWatson, Rinnto and FrozenBlast13 for their reviews for the omake!

**WrittenWhim- **Yeah, hopefully the inspiration will keep up cause I'm a bit too lazy to do a restart to be honest… But anyways, yes, Camille has a very interesting past and she's ran into all sorts of dangerous figures.

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Yep, what Camille lacks in sheer talent, she makes up for with hard work. And yeah, Quill learning Memory Take was a shock to the whole family and yeah, Lynn's Blade Works Magic, as well as Rayner's Forge Magic, were both inspired by a single magecraft from Fate. Lynn's reflects creation of weapons inside of the body, as well as other aspects, while Rayner's reflects the creation of weapons outside of the body. Frankly I think Forge Magic sounds less painful, but there are tradeoffs between the two. And yep, a lot of hints for the future were dropped in that omake, but you all should look out for that hooded figure as well as any hints that will appear during the story that point towards the events shown. One was actually dropped in the last story arc. Amalia… yeah, I say she's half attitude and half spunk, but we'll see more of her, and Egon, in a few arcs actually. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**MyDearWatson- **Glad I could surprise you. I was trying to keep it a secret when I asked you for your opinion on the premonition and it looks like it worked. And I figured you would enjoy seeing Quill discovering his magic, as well as Lynn working more on her own, I honestly really enjoyed writing both of those events. And yeah, Camille was hit by a train wreck of emotions during the omake and honestly, I had been feeling nearly every one of those emotions that she was before I sat down and started writing. So note to self: Make myself feel miserable before writing scenes like that… That sounds like a terrible idea that I should not pursue… Anyways, I'm happy to hear that you think it all turned out well and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Rinnto- **Yeah, I think I'm a good enough writer, but it's more of a want than a need, or it could be a need, never know. And then there are characters that I seriously feel like I don't write well, but I never hear anything from their creators so I have no idea whether I write their characters good or not. And you did send a character or two in a while back, but I haven't gotten to the point where I can introduce them. I'm basically asking for their personality sections to be expanded so that I can get a better idea of how to write them. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**FrozenBlast13- **Yep, a ton of emotion went into writing the omake, so a ton of emotion was in the omake, and yeah, Camille is a character that I made to grow as a person as time goes on, and she has a lot of growth ahead of her. And I'm happy to hear that you enjoy Lynn so much, I rather enjoy writing her as well since she's another character that I can relate to emotionally. And yep, the Other Her will be quite the foe, but I can't say much on that unfortunately even though it is the fight I am looking forward to writing the most, but it won't be for a long while… And yep, Amalia's the friendliest girl you'll ever meet. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 26: Council Members, Swords and a Dojo<strong>

Jace sat on the edge of his seat, eagerness and excitement welling up inside him as the train took him, Light, Camille and the Exceeds closer to Rosary. He couldn't help the overexcited grin that was plastered onto his face at the moment as he looked out the window, waiting for the town to come into view.

"You seem excited," Light huffed from her seat on the opposite side of the cabin from Jace, Rave and Camille.

"Why wouldn't I be? Rosary's the first home I had after Rivesha disappeared," Jace answered with his wide grin still on his face as he turned to look at the other Dragon Slayer.

"You've mentioned Rosary to me before," Camille muttered, "It's a town heavily focused on blacksmithing and the arts isn't it?"

"Hehe, yep!" Jace nodded, "The folks who take care of me come from a blacksmithing family too! Uncle Takeda's the one who made my sword, Heaven's Frost," he added as he held out his taichi sword.

"He must be a very skilled blacksmith then," Camille said with a soft smile.

"He's the best!" Jace responded happily, "Hey, who made your sword?"

"Hm? My sword… It's been passed down through my family for generations," Camille explained before continuing in a quiet tone, "It is the last memento I have of my father."

"Your father… What kind of man was he? I don't remember my own actual parents so I want to know what yours were like."

"He… My father, Lord Philemon Arturia, was a very harsh man whose expectations I could never live up to. But, I see now that he was always encouraging me in his own way. My mother was a very quiet and obedient woman and I never spent much time around her as a child, so I can't say for sure what sort of woman she was," Camille admitted, speaking in tones mixed with fondness and sadness in equal parts, "But that's enough about that subject… Light, where did your blade come from?"

"Mine? It's just a sword, nothing special about it," Light answered, "Rakki goes out and buys me new weapons and supplies all of the time," she explained as Rakki moved over to sit on Light's lap, "You're some kind of Sword Mage right, Camille? So you must have a lot of different weapons too," as she said this, Camille's face turned to one of embarrassment as she poked the tips of her fingers together.

"It is shameful for me to admit, but I'm not overly talented at Gunblade Magic," she admitted, "My father taught me Wind Magic when I was young, but I was never able to actually learn it and it has interfered with my ability to change my magic's elemental property. So I only have two other swords in my requip space since more would be meaningless at this point."

"Oh? I always thought you were really good at your magic," Jace cut in, a surprised look on his face.

"No, I'm just average, if even that. My master is incredible when compared to me," Camille began to explain, "He has always told me that my greatest strength is my strength and skill as a swordfighter."

'So she's not a 'miss perfect'', Light thought to herself as Rakki looked up at her.

"You're thinking something mean again aren't you?" the Exceed asked.

"Sorry," Light sighed. She was just hoping that this mission would go quickly and without a hitch. She was already upset that she got dragged into another team mission by Salina, but her thoughts were suddenly cut off by a loud rumbling coming from the back of the train.

"Onii-chan," Rave muttered, "Something's happening."

"A train robbery?" Jace muttered as he stood up, grabbing his tessen war fan, Rivesha's Scale, before walking over to the door of the cabin.

"Let's investigate then," Camille added as she stood up, "Arturia's Thorn!" she announced as she summoned an ornate rapier that was adorned with gold along the extravagant guard.

"Hikari," Rakki said in a bit of a stern tone as she looked up at her partner.

"I got it," Light sighed as she stood up, "I'm coming too."

"Happy to hear," Jace smiled as he opened the door, the three mages and two Exceeds rushing off in the direction of where the noise came from.

"What's going on!?" Camille asked as they came upon a large group of crewman that operated the train that were standing outside of a door.

"You all should stay back, there's a dangerous group of mages raiding the cargo hold!" one man shouted before Camille removed her glove, revealing her burgundy guild mark.

"We are mages from Undine's Cove. I assure you we can handle ourselves," Camille responded lowly.

"Chief," one of the men whispered, "D'ya think they could stop 'em?"

"Hm… We have no other options," the first man relented, "But please, do your upmost not to destroy the train."

"Understood," Camille responded with a small bow, "Please, keep the explosive spells to a minimum this fight," she requested, turning to face Jace and Light.

"Got it! Now let's kick some butt!" Jace cheered happily as they walked past the group of men and into the next train car, "All right, who wants some!?" Jace shouted as they stormed into the car, only to see it empty and full of unconscious men in their underwear.

"Shit," Light cursed, "Are we too late?"

"You're right on time actually!" they heard a man shout from outside as they heard a loud noise from behind them, Camille running back and throwing open the door to see that the car had been disconnected from the train and the man they had spoken to was standing in the door way of the train, flashing her a guild mark that was on his chest that she didn't recognize, "You legal mages are too slow and stupid for the Shrieking Wraiths!"

"You…," Camille growled lowly before holding out her rapier, "Load!"

"Camille wait!" Jace shouted, "Don't forget about the people on the train!"

"Tch…! Dastards!" she huffed with a click of her tongue as she put away her sword.

"So… I know how two of us are going to travel," Light muttered as she looked down at the two Exceeds, "What about her?"

"Right, I don't have my motorcycle here," Jace sighed, "Otherwise I'd let Camille use it."

Camille stood there in deep thought for a moment before speaking up, "I have a way of traveling through the air with my magic, but it will take most of my magic reserves probably," she admitted, "Propulsion Strike. If I use it consecutively I'll be able to propel myself through the air until we arrive at Rosary."

"Sounds like a plan then," Jace nodded.

"But first let's wait for the car to lose speed so that we can get as far as possible first," she added.

"So we wait then?" Light huffed, only to receive a nod from Camille, "Great."

**. : + : .**

"Hm… It relieves me to see that Salina decided to send one of her best for this mission at least," the Magic Council member, Org, huffed as he looked at the three mages, Jezabelle, Fareth and Haru, "Did she make sure to brief you all personally beforehand?"

"Yes, she did in fact," Jezabelle responded curtly, "We are to escort you back to Era due to the lack of current availability within the Rune Knights."

"Hm… Yes, that is correct. Although I'm sure had more to say about the subject than that," the old man added as he stroked his beard.

"Yes, but it was just her expressing her own opinions on the situation," Jezabelle respond with a small smirk.

"Hmph… I'm sure that is all it was," Org huffed.

"So where did you get this lead that you could be attacked on the way back," Fareth asked, "The Rune Knights?"

The old man's face twisted into one of frustration for a moment, as if he had been trying to figure it out too, "We're not exactly certain ourselves unfortunately. But there's only one man who could find something out like this and then leave an anonymous note without anyone's knowledge. Have you heard of the name Euclid?"

"That bastard?" Haru huffed, "He nearly killed three of our own recently."

"Did one of them tell you?" Jezabelle asked in a surprised tone, knowing that Haru wasn't very close with anyone in the guild asides for Light and Varic.

"I overheard Hughes talking about it with Caleb," Haru explained.

"So that's what happened," Fareth said lowly.

"Hm… So he's an enemy of your guild then," Org interrupted, "Well no matter what his intentions are, he can be useful, but he is not one to be trusted. At any rate we should be off," he added as he began stepping into the carriage that was behind him, "The few Rune Knights I have with me will stay near the carriage at all times. You three will be the first line of defense if anything goes wrong," he explained as he leaned out of the open window next to him.

"Understood," Jezabelle responded with, "All right, since we'll be a ways away from the carriage, feel free to go all out if you spot an enemy."

"Got it."

"Understood," they responded as the group started the long trek to Era.

The group kept up a steady pace from their starting point in Magnolia, having travelled several miles in the first day. Eventually, Jezabelle found a suitable point for them all to stop for the night to set up camp.

Fareth watched as the Rune Knights began to swiftly set up tents as Org sat down in a chair that had been prepared for him.

"Haru went out to hunt, so I'll handle the campfire," Fareth mentioned as he walked up to the unlit pile of wood, quickly lighting it with his magic, "Done," he muttered as he walked past Org to stand near Jezabelle.

"You seem a bit agitated tonight," Jezabelle mentioned, Fareth giving her an odd look in response.

"Nah… It's just, on the old council, wasn't he the guy who always went after Fairy Tail the hardest?"

"Ah that's right. You were a member of Fairy Tail once," Jezabelle said softly, "I heard that he's changed quite a bit from then. In the days leading up to that mass disappearance on Tenrou Island, he was the council member that defended Fairy Tail the most."

"Hm… I still don't like him," Fareth muttered.

"Since when does a mage like a council member?" Jezabelle asked, a hint of humor in her voice.

"Good point," Fareth stated, "Salina certainly doesn't like them much, but I guess it goes double for her since she's a guild master."

"Yajima's all right though. He's always looked out for mages," Jezabelle added.

"He cooks good food too," Haru added, appearing out of nowhere.

"Haru! Where did you come from?" Jezabelle asked, a bit surprised that the girl had gotten the drop on her, only to see Haru point towards the nearby foliage with her left hand, her right hand holding a bloody sack filled with what Jezabelle assumed was animals she had hunted.

"I'm going to go give this to the cook," Haru added before walking off towards the campfire.

"She can be odd at times can't she?" Fareth asked, only to get hit in the forehead by a small rock, the Dragon Slayer growling as he looked over to see Haru give him a brief glare.

"She heard you," Jezabelle chuckled.

"Yeah, I noticed," Fareth growled as he rubbed the spot on his forehead, "Keh… I just hope this mission doesn't take too long."

"I can't help but doubt that will happen," Jezabelle mumbled, "If Euclid's involved, nothing's that simple from what I've heard."

**. : + : .**

Reno quickly hopped out of the train and stretching out her body. She always hated riding those things since she had to be cooped up the entire time and it always made her stiff.

"Ahhh, traveling by boat is much more fun than that," Reno sighed as she continued stretching out her legs.

"I don't really like sitting still for that long either," Zain said as he began stretching out his arms while walking off of the train, "It kills me."

"Please, you're both fine," Wilhelm said coldly as he pulled out a map to figure out where in Crocus they were supposed to go.

"Grump," Reno huffed before quickly moving behind Wilhelm to look at the map with him, "So where we going?" she asked, leaning into his back, making the man blush furiously as he hopped away quicker than Reno had moved behind him, "Eh?" Reno blinked before falling over since she had put most of her weight on Wilhelm's back.

"What's with you all of a sudden?" Zain asked, looking at Wilhelm with a curious look.

"N-nothing… Just… Women," he mumbled in response, to flushed to focus on the map, "Dammit."

"I'll go ask someone," Zain chirped as he ran out of the station.

"I'll come too!" Reno called out as she got back up and chased after Zain.

"W-wait! Wait, dammit!" Wilhelm shouted as he ran after his teammates.

"Excuse me!" Zain called out as he ran up to a woman holding a grocery bad, "Can you help give us some directions?" he asked as the woman stopped to look at them.

The woman in front of them was slim and toned, she had soft curves, an average sized bust and lightly tanned skin while she stood at 5'9". She had hazel colored eyes and auburn hair that reached down to her lower back and was worn in a loose braid with her bangs framing her face in layers. The woman was wearing tight, black shorts that reached her mid-thigh along with a white leather belt and holster that held a pair of sai. She was also wearing black boots that came up to just above her ankles and a black tank top that stopped to still show off her stomach and a guild mark, which was green and shaped like a crescent moon with a four-pronged star in the middle of it. Over top of the tank top, she was wearing a form fitting jacket that was mostly dark green with a stripe of white down the front of it and the cuffs at the end of the sleeves were white, the sleeves being as long as the sleeves of a t-shirt. She left the collar popped and she had the two pairs of buttons on each side of the jacket buttoned. The jacket also flared out at her hips and kept some of her stomach exposed. The woman also had her ears pierced with green studs and a metal stud piercing through her right eyebrow. Lastly, she was also wearing what they assumed to be a wedding ring on her left hand.

"Directions?" she repeated, "Sure, where to?"

"To the… Tch… What was it called?" Zain huffed.

"The Avalon Estate," Wilhelm grumbled.

"Yeah! There!" Reno chirped as she waved her left arm into the air, "We're mages!"

"Mages, eh," the woman muttered as she looked at the guild mark, "Wait a moment, are you three from Undine's Cove by any chance?"

"Yep! It's the best seaside guild in Fiore!" Reno bragged, sticking out her chest with pride.

"I'm Quinn. Quinn Ealdwine," the woman stated, introducing herself, "Do you guys happen to know a girl named Camille?"

"Camille?" Zain repeated, "Yeah, she's been in the guild since the beginning."

"Yep. Although she and I always have to pull Ajax and Rayner off of each other," Reno snickered.

"That sounds like her all right... Anyways, I guess you could say I'm Camille's foster mom. I'm married to her teacher you see," Quinn explained, the three mage's eyes growing in shock.

"Really?" Reno asked, "What was Camille like as a kid? Did she get into trouble a lot?"

"Heh, no, she was the one hardest on herself," Quinn explained, "But how's Camille doing? Is she eating all right? Does she get along with everyone?" she asked before realizing what a mother hen she just sounded like as she clicked her tongue, "Never mind. It's getting late. How urgent is your mission?"

"We have until tomorrow evening to report," Wilhelm explained.

"Cool, why don't you three come with me to my place and stay for the night?" Quinn suggested, "The Avalons can wait for all I care," she whispered under her breath in an agitated tone, drawing curious looks, "Ignore that. Any friend of Camille's is a friend of the family's, so why don't you stay the night?"

"What do you think?" Zain asked the other two, looking back at them.

"I wanna hear more stories about Camille!" Reno chirped happily, "All of the really embarrassing ones especially so I can tease her later."

"We might as well," Wilhelm huffed, "It'll save us some Jewels."

"We'll take you up on your offer then!" Zain said happily.

"Cool. What's all of your names?" Quinn asked.

"I'm Zain McSolas!"

"Reno Lozier's my name!"

"…Wilhelm," they all said in introduction.

Quinn nodded back at the three mages, "All right, follow me then," she said as she started leading the three through the city, the group eventually reaching a series of three buildings in the second ring of the city by the time the sun had started to set, "Welcome to the Lohr Dojo! That building there in the center is the actual dojo and over there is where my family and I live," she explained as she pointed at the building on the right.

"Cool!" Zain exclaimed as he looked up at the dojo, "I wish Ziv were here to see this."

"Well anyways, right now only myself, my dad and my niece are here," Quinn began as she opened up the front door of her home, "My husband, Zander, and my two sons are out on a mission."

"What are their names?" Reno asked as she followed Quinn into the building, taking her shoes off like the older woman was once she was inside.

"Jareth and Quill are my sons," Quinn answered before shouting into the house, "Dad! Lynn! Can you both come here!?"

"Aunt Quinn? What is it?" a young girl with dark red hair asked as she slowly limped into the room.

She stood at 5'2" and appeared to be about 14 years old. She was thin with subtle curves and she had a light tan to her skin. Her steel gray eyes contrasted rather sharply with her hair and she had long eyelashes and a slightly pointed nose. Her dark red hair was shoulder length and slightly spiky, but it also curved in slightly towards her nose while her spiky bangs covered her forehead, but most of her hair was covered by an oversized, black beanie that hung loosely on her head. She was wearing a red v-neck shirt that had a gold, bird-like motif on the front with a pair of black jeans. She also had a gray, wyvern shaped pendant hanging around her neck and she was wearing bloody bandages on her arms. If she hadn't been inside, she would have been wearing a pair of black canvas boots that would be tucked under her pants.

"We have guests," Quinn answered, "This is Zain, Reno and Wilhelm. They're all mages from Undine's Cove like Camille," she said, pointing at each of them in turn, "This is my niece, Marilynn Lindwyrm Ealdwine."

"Nice to meet all of you," the girl said quietly, "Please, just call me Lynn if you want."

"Nice to meet you!" Zain and Reno said happily.

"Is she injured?" Wilhelm quietly asked Quinn, having noticed the bloody bandages and the limp she had walking in.

Quinn's face fell as she held a sad look in her eyes briefly, "It's better if either Lynn or Camille tells you," she stated, "Oh, Lynn, where's that cloth?"

"In the other room," Lynn answered, "I was about to change my bandages, so I took it off."

"Was dad going to help you?"

"No, he's visiting Jarrod right now, so it was just me here until now," Lynn explained.

"I see," Quinn said softly, "All right, you three can go make yourselves comfortable in that room over there. I'm going to drop these off in the kitchen and then go help Lynn with her bandages."

"Okay!" Reno replied happily, skipping into the room Quinn had pointed at with Zain and Wilhelm right behind her.

"All right, go grab that cloth and I'll meet you in the bathroom, okay?" Quinn asked, receiving a nod from Lynn before she limped into the other room with the mages.

Zain watched Lynn closely, seeing her limp over to a black cloth that was stained with red in several places. The girl tried to bend over to pick it up, but she gasped in pain all of a sudden and stood straight up quickly.

"Are you all right!?" Zain asked as he quickly ran over to Lynn.

"I-I'm fine," she lied, Zain noticing fresh blood starting to fall down her back as it trickled out from underneath her shirt.

"I don't think you are," Zain said softly as he bent down and picked up the cloth, but nearly dropping it after he felt it start to drain his magic away.

Lynn quickly swiped the cloth out of Zain's hands, the girl feeling a blade in her left arm tear open her skin, "This is too dangerous for anyone but me to touch," Lynn said quietly as she wrapped the cloth around her right arm before unwrapping the bandages on her left arm slightly to see how bad the tear in her arm from pulling the cloth away from Zain was. The girl sighed as she watched the blades in her arm recede back into her due to the cloth wrapped around her right arm, leaving an open wound.

The three mages stood slightly in shock at seeing all of the scars and wounds on Lynn's arms, each one of them wanting to ask a question, but none of them being able to word it.

"It's from my magic," Lynn said suddenly, "That's what you're all wondering right?" she asked, "If you learn anything, please, help Camille… She said that she would find a way… to dispel the Blade Works before they tear me apart," she added quietly in closing before walking out of the room.

"Shit… That's messed up," Wilhelm cursed, 'Would Black Jack know anything about this?'

"She looks like she's in so much pain," Reno whispered quietly.

"Yeah," Zain agreed, "I want to help her too. You saw them right? Those blades in her arm."

"No wonder she's limping if she has those in her legs," Wilhelm stated.

"I wanna see if my dad would have any ideas after this mission is done," Reno said with a determined look, "If Camille's been looking for something to help her this whole time by herself, we should help."

"It's settled then, right?" Zain asked, "After we finish this mission we're gonna ask Camille about all of this."

"Right!" Reno chirped in agreement while Wilhelm nodded his head.

**. : + : .**

Euclid carelessly walked around on the roof of his base, balancing along the edge of the building with his arms held out to his side as he hummed a song to himself.

"Euclid…" Aurora called out, "You shouldn't be doing something like that. It's dangerous."

"But it's rather fun once you get the hang of it," the broker smirked back in reply, "Do you have that report for me?"

"Yes," Aurora responded, but standing still as she held the file close to her.

"Hm? What's wrong?" Euclid asked.

"Come and get it from me," the girl demanded.

"Eh?" Euclid gawked, completely surprised by what Aurora said. So much that he lost his balance and began to fall backwards off of the building.

"Euclid!" he heard her scream.

'Emotions? Those are… emotions… Her emotions,' Euclid thought to himself as he fell, a smile crossing his face, "Proclus!" he shouted, a large wyvern suddenly flying beneath Euclid, catching him before he hit the ground, "Nice catch," he smirked as Proclus landed on the rooftop next to Aurora.

"Next time don't be so careless," the spirit scolded as Euclid hopped off of his back, the broker wearing a solemn look on his face.

"Aurora," he said quietly, "How do you feel? Are your emotions…" he started to say as he suddenly fell quiet, "Are they back."

Aurora quickly wore a look of surprise on her face before a sharp pain shot through her head, the girl dropping the file as she grasped her head before the pain eventually subsided, the usually, empty look back in her eyes, "No," she answered bluntly as she bent down and picked up the file, "Now back to my report, Euclid."

Euclid sighed in disappointment before speaking, "Go ahead," he mumbled as the young girl nodded in response.

"You asked me to set an agent to track Myrick," Aurora began, "It has come to my attention that he has encountered a team from Undine's Cove composed of Kiyeda Hasanari, Ajax Cruz and Rayner Casimir. If the fight is allowed to progress normally, all three will die. How do wish to handle the situation?"

"Hm…" Euclid hummed as he placed his hands behind his head, "If they die now, it could severely compromise my plans. But we can't do anything ourselves since it's Myrick and we have a contract," he thought out loud before turning to Proclus with a smirk, "I want you to take a message to Miss Salina Velvet. Tell her that they will die."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there it is! Chapter 26 is done! So that's one chapter that MyDearWatson has to match so far!

Credits happen down here from now on as well.

**Credits:**

**Quinn Ealdwine- MyDearWatson**

**Marilynn "Lynn" Lindwyrm Ealdwine- Dreadburner94**

I've put them into the credits again because it's their first time being in an actual chapter and not an omake, which is exciting for me.

Anyways, I'll have the next chapter up soon!

Your host,

Dreadburner94.


	34. Nightmare: Edina

**A/N: **M'kay, Chapter 27 is up! This is chapter number two of the Undine's Cove 1 Year Anniversary challenge!

M'kay, as a bit of a warning about this chapter. Blood. Lots and lots of blood in this chapter, as well as gore. I've tried to tone down the descriptions, but the character introduced this chapter might just push the limits of the T rating and toning it down too much doesn't have enough impact to get the sense of twistedness from this character. You have been warned, this is some of my sickest writing yet.

Now then, I'd like to thank M-anonymous, WaterDragonMaverick, WrittenWhim, SaiyaStyles, GhostOfOnyx, MyDearWatson, lexlovesya, SarionFykren and FrozenBlast13 for their reviews last chapter!

**M-anonymous- **I appreciate the reinforcement and it's good to hear that I'm writing Wilhelm and Varic well. But yeah, I'm the kind of guy who needs to be told this kind of stuff often if you can't tell from my musings. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Hm, yeah, I'd call her parents a touchy subject for Camille, but if she's asked about something about her, she'll answer since she doesn't have any dark secrets or anything. And yep, this mission is going to be very Jace heavy in terms of what all will be happening, so a lot about him is getting/going to be revealed in that mission. So I showed a lot more of his friendliness towards Camille as well, the two subjects being swords and parents. And yeah, if Org, the Second Seat on the Magic Council, believes that someone like Euclid is the one that dropped the hint, chances are that he was indeed the one behind the message, but as for what he intended, that's to be found out. And yep, Zain's brotherly instincts kicked into gear upon seeing Lynn in pain. And yeah, since Camille is the one to have had her history revealed the most so far, it's her history that gets light shone on it in actual chapters the most right now. And yep! Wilhelm gets horribly nervous around girls and I hinted at it during the last arc when his team was heading to their mission, as for this "Black Jack" he mentioned, you'll just have to wait and see. Yeah, that's a good comparison for Euclid, and yeah, Aurora still has moments where it all comes back to her, but they're few and far between. And yep, if Euclid is showing a bit of concern over the three of them meeting Myrick, it definitely spells trouble, but I wouldn't call Euclid evil necessarily, more like, Chaotic Neutral. Anyways, I agree with you for sure on Thunder Stone being better than some novels, although in certain cases I agree with this being better than some certain novels since I've been forced to read some pretty awful books…

**WrittenWhim- **Actually yeah, all three of those last missions do actually lead up to things later down the line so far, I can't say what exactly, but they do. And Salina's response… well… you'll just have to wait and see.

**SaiyaStyles- **Mmm… Considering what last chapter's scenes eventually lead up to, it's hard for me to really call the scenes filler, but they were very filler in nature. But I wanted to focus on character interaction and development more, so we could end up with more scenes like that in the future where the characters mostly just talk and get to know each other better. But anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**GhostOfOnyx- **Well, accidents happen I suppose. But anyways, I'm happy to hear that you enjoy the omakes so much. They're honestly my favorite things to write right now. But anyways, I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the last chapter as well! And yeah, it can be a struggle to make everyone different from each other, but that's why I ask people to further expand on their character's personality for me and to give me feedback, otherwise I could end up feeling like I don't portray a character well. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**MyDearWatson- **Yep, we'll get to meet some of those people Jace knew soon. And I'm assuming you mean Fareth and Jezabelle since Light was in the first scene and I can't quite but feel like that mission will end up surprising some people in some way with how Euclid is involved. But anyways, yep! Quinn and Lynn have now both been introduced into the main storyline! And yeah, Wilhelm can't handle female company very well in actuality. Yep, Euclid has a lot to say and he loves hinting at people and events, in this case Myrick, and if Euclid thinks that those three would be killed if nothing is done, then I can't help but feel like "hard time" might be an understatement. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**lexlovesya- **Yeah, a lot of stuff happened in the last chapter, especially since all three of those missions will have lasting repercussions either due to who was introduced or what will happen, some serious, some not as serious.

**SarionFykren- **Well I hope everything's all right for you now, and if they aren't, then I hope things get better soon. But anyways, I'm hope you enjoy the chapter!

**FrozenBlast13- **Yep, Camille cares a great deal for her family and she's been looking for a way to help Lynn for about 3 years now in the story. And it's not the bandages, but rather that cloth that restricts Lynn's magic, which you might note that Lynn doesn't have that cloth in any of the Historical Omakes that she's been in, so there's a story to be told there. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 27: Nightmare: Edina<strong>

A single girl sat in the midst of a warehouse, the metallic scent of blood heavy in the air along with the stench of rotting flesh. She hummed a cheerful tune to herself as she held something in her hands… a severed arm. The girl played with the fingers for a while before growing bored and carelessly tossing the arm to side, the limb landing on a pile of mutilated flesh.

"Hey, little girl," she called out, "I'm bored with your arm, gimmee something else," she demanded as she walked towards a small, unmoving body, "No shrieks? You bled out didn't you? Did you do that on purpose just to annoy me!?" she pouted, "That's boring though!" she continued to whine before slashing open the body's chest with a small blade, splattering blood everywhere.

This girl, who appeared to be about 16, stood at 5'5" with a thin build and waist, but an above average sized bust and pale skin. She had large, light blue eyes, a small round nose, pointed ears and a seemingly kind smile on her face, but her most noticeable features were the dark, upward curving horns sticking out of her head and the black, slender tail falling out from under her skirt. The girl had silver hair that had hot pink colored highlights in it that fell down to her mid-back while her bangs framed her face and were trimmed out of her eyes. She also had two, small pigtails that were held up behind her horns with black ribbons. She was wearing a short black, gothic Lolita styled dress that had large white frills, while the black portion of the dress had a thin, hot pink stripe that followed the edge of the black with hot pink diamonds shapes being placed slightly above the stripe at regular intervals. The corset part of her dress exposed some of her cleavage and her shoulders, and had three hot pink diamonds down the center of the front of it. Paired with the dress was a pair of white, disconnected sleeves that flared out around her wrists and at the top of them, and she also has black cuffs around the wrists of the sleeves that had small, hot pink diamond shapes on them. And lastly, she was wearing white knee-high boots that had tall heels that made her seem to be about 5'8" and they had black trim lining the top and a hot pink diamond shape on them just above the ankle on the front of the boot.

"Food!" a beast roared from the side of the room.

The girl, Edina Adelaide, looked over at it with disinterest, seeing the creature's body ripple in excitement, "You'll have to do for now," Edina muttered as she briskly walked towards the creature before placing a hard kick on its jaw, dislocating it as the beast roared out in pain, "You'll sit and you'll wait like I've told you to!" she shouted, "You lesser Nightmares are beasts bound to their master's orders. So sit like I've commanded!"

The Nightmare looked down at Edina. She looked human mostly, but those horns and that tail told it exactly what she was: A humanoid Nightmare. And that meant that it did indeed have no choice but to submit to her whims, its instincts demanded it.

"Looks like you understand," Edina smirked, "I'll give you something to tide you over then," she announced as she walked back to the small, unmoving body before cutting off its other arm and throwing it over to the Nightmare, which swallowed the limb in one gulp, "Be grateful I'm so kind," she chuckled before walking over to a corner of the warehouse, which housed a cage that was filled with young women and girls, "You all should be grateful too," Edina hissed lowly, smirking upon seeing them all flinch in fear of her, "Be grateful that I've taken an interest in all of you. Be grateful that a Nightmare has decided to cast her gaze on lowly cattle like humans!" she shouted as she slammed herself up against the bars of the cage, causing several of the women to shriek in fear, "I am the Nightmare of Giving in to Dark Desires and I seek entertainment," Edina said lowly with malice in her eyes as she opened the gate of the cage, forcefully grabbing one of the women and pulling her out before throwing her to the ground, "Do what you want, so long as you're willing to accept the consequences," Edina said with a kind smile before she turned to shut the cage and lock it again.

The woman who had been pulled out of the cage looked back at Edina in fear, but noticed that she had her back turned to her and that she seemed to be taking her time with the lock. She then glanced over at the Nightmare, which was busy popping its jaw back into place. The woman quickly swallowed a lump in her throat as she decided to quietly stand up and try to escape. She quietly tiptoed her way around the pile of flesh, hope welling up in her chest as she drew closer to the door. She slowly placed her hand on the door knob and began to turn it, only to see a splash of red fly up into the air from her hand as she noticed a blade sticking out of her hand, nailing it to the doorknob.

"I told you to do what you want, so long as you're willing to accept the consequences," Edina chuckled as she walked around the pile of flesh, "That means you must be willing to go through some of my most exquisite torture."

"N-no…" the woman pleaded, "No… Stay away… Stay away!"

"You brought this on yourself," Edina stated coldly as she slashed down at the woman, cutting her impaled hand clean off as blood sprayed into the air, the woman's scream echoing throughout the warehouse.

**. : + : .**

"So just how long have these notes been going around?" Alistar asked, sweatdropping as he looked at the bottom note, seeing that the so-called 'Master Thief' even signed his name.

"A few days now, I think," Aaron responded as he walked back into the storefront of his shop, "At first everyone thought it was a joke, but then we all got another note saying the same thing the next day, and then the next day and the next and so on and so forth," the man explained.

"And this guy is just leaving these notes without anyone seeing him?" Jewul asked.

"Ooh! He's gotta be a ghost!" Malon shouted, Willow happily bobbing up and down in the air around her head, "Nobody's seen him so he's gotta be!"

"How would a ghost leave a note?" Jewul questioned, giving Malon a curious look.

"Um… Wellllll…," the girl mumbled as Willow stopped bobbing up and down, "Telekinesis!" she suddenly answered, Willow happily cooing in response.

"But how's a ghost in so many places at once?"

"Uh…," Malon blanked, "It has friends? Hehe…"

"You always did attract the crazy ones," Aaron chuckled as he watched Malon try and prove her point.

"Yeah, it's a bad habit…" Alistar sighed, resignation in his voice as they continued to watch Malon try to convince Jewul that this thief was a ghost.

The group continued to wait until night had fallen, Aaron eventually deciding to get out of their way for when the thief showed up. Alistar continued reading the note left by thief to see if he could glean anything else from it, but as the light within the shop grew dim he made sure to have one of his masks handy.

'Beelzebub should be enough for a mere thief,' Alistar mused, 'But perhaps I should use Mammon since I assume that a thief would be fast. I suppose how I should act will be based on what she does,' he thought as he looked over at Jewul, who was now standing by herself with her hammer in hand now that Malon had used her magic to turn invisible, like they planned beforehand.

Alistar continued standing there in the dark, a deafening silence upon them until they all heard a rattling noise, like someone was trying to pick the lock outside.

"Come on!" the heard a man grumble, "Open!"

"Guess that's him," Alistar chuckled.

"Hehe, this should be fun," Jewul snickered, an excited look crossing her face at the prospect of a fight.

"Screw it!" the man outside shouted, "I am!" the bellowed before backing away from the door before running towards and leaping through the storefront windows, rolling on the ground through the broken glass before coming to a stop as he struck a pose "The Great! Marcus Shieeeelds! And no locked door shall stop my legend of master thievery!"

This 'Master Thief' was a leanly built man, standing at 5'9" with unruly brown hair that reached down to his shoulders and mischievous golden brown eyes. He was dressed simply, as he was wearing a simple pair of black pants, black boots, a loose white shirt and a long brown cloak that had a hood attached to it.

Alistar and Jewul merely stared in shock at the man, taken completely aback by this man's noisy entrance.

"This is a master thief?" Alistar muttered in disbelief, "I suppose he did sign his name…"

"What kind of thief makes an entrance like that?" Jewul questioned as she stared at the man.

"Fufufu," the thief chuckled, "The Great Marcus Shields always makes a grand entrance! It's the secret to my fame, on top of my dashing good looks."

"Fame?" Jewul repeated, "I've never even heard of you, and I'd say you're a four out of ten at best, but you'd look better with your face smashed in!" she shouted as she leapt towards Marcus Shields, swinging her hammer in a wide arc, the blow connecting with Marcus' side as he was sent flying out of the shop and into the building across the street.

"Owowow," Marcus grunted as he pulled himself out of the wall, "Well if I'm just a four, then three of me is a twelve! Multiplying Magic: Times Three!" he announced as two more of him appeared.

"Phantom Claw!" Malon announced as she appeared above Marcus slashing down on the one in the middle, "Ufufufu… You're quite funny, hopefully you'll survive this encounter," she muttered in a sinister tone, expecting the other two to drop down as well, only to see the other two Marcus' running off in opposite directions.

"Lucky for us, there is no original me with my magic!" they announced before stopping, "Multiplying Magic: Times Five!" they both announced as there were suddenly five Marcus' on either side of the street for a total of ten.

"This is troublesome," Alistar sighed as he stepped out of the shop, lifting an all-black mask to his face, "So let's get this over with, Mask of Amon," he announced as black lines started to appear on his body, "Dark Discs!" he shouted as he launched several discs of Dark Magic towards one group of Marcus', "I'll go after this group! You two go after the other five!" he ordered as he started chasing the fleeing Marcus'.

"You're not the boss of me!" Jewul shouted in retaliation, only for Alistar to ignore her as he ran off, "Grr…"

"Let's go!" Malon cheered, grabbing Jewul's hand as she pulled the girl behind herself in her pursuit of the other group.

**. : + : .**

Kimi sighed loudly as she took off her apron, relieved that 8-Island had just closed and Horace hadn't blown up the kitchen, although Ladon had slept most of the day.

"Thanks for looking after the restaurant while I was gone," Yajima said with a nod of his head, "Here's for a job well-done," he added as he handed each of them an envelope filled with Jewels.

"You're welcome," Kimi said happily as she took her envelope.

"That job went by quickly," Ladon muttered with a yawn as he stretched his arms out.

"That's because you slept most of the day," Horace explained.

"Did I?" Ladon mused.

"We'll be going now in any case," Horace stated as the three mages walked out of the restaurant.

"So how was your first mission as an Undine?" Ladon asked as they walked down the streets of Hargeon.

"It was… fun," Kimi answered, "But also stressful," she then sighed as she remembered the two male's antics throughout the mission.

"That's how it usually is, I think," Ladon responded before they heard something odd come from the air above them.

"The Great Marcus Shieeeeeeeeelds!" a man screamed as he fell from the air, landing on the ground in front of them face first.

"Well this is curious," Horace mused as he walked over to examine the man.

"Ladon! Horace!" they heard Alistar call out from a nearby rooftop, "The towns been overrun!"

"Overrun?" Ladon repeated, "With what?"

"With those," Alistar answered as he pointed at the man on the ground.

"This is most interesting!" Horace said happily, "I will be glad to lend you my help," he said with a bow before floating off to survey the town from the air.

"Another mission," Kimi sighed, "Okay, I'll help. Come on Mr. Voodoo," she said as she ran off into town.

"I'm awake, so yeah, I'll help out too," Ladon added, "Just point me in a direction."

**. : + : .**

"Great, we're here. The hell do we do now?" Styles huffed, still not happy at all with the prospect that he might have to fight animals.

"Did you listen to anything I said on the way here?" Arashi growled, "We have to explore the forest and find who or what is making the creatures go berserk. Now let's hurry and go."

"God damn human," Styles cursed under his breath, "Let's go Nina," he huffed as the wolf began trotting alongside him.

Yune merely stood there for a while longer, truly concerned about the situation, 'Are we really going to be all right?' she thought to herself before slowly walking after the two men.

The group walked deeper into the forest, hearing low growling and the occasional roar as they navigated the dark forest. A few times the group came across one of the forest's many giant monsters, but managed to avoid a conflict by laying low.

"Um…" Yune hummed, catching the two men's attention, "Are we going to be all right?" she asked nervously.

"You're with an S-Class on a normal mission," Arashi huffed, "We'll be fine."

"Keh, you probably can't put up that great of a fight, human," Styles growled, drawing a harsh glare from Arashi.

Yune gasped at seeing that glare again, "Stop!" she suddenly shouted, drawing the two male's attention back to her before things went terribly wrong, "That's what I'm worried about," Yune muttered nervously, "Please don't fight."

Arashi let out a sigh. He had never been the best at teamwork, which was why he usually always worked solo jobs. So to be thrown on a team with someone with very strong opinions like Styles, who hardly trusted anyone, was difficult for him to say the least.

Before Arashi could say anything though, they all heard a rustling noise as Nina started barking.

"A beast," Styles gasped, "Don't hurt it!" he demanded as he watched it leap towards Arashi, whose honed combat instincts took over at being threatened, the S-Class mage grabbing the monster by the throat and slamming it into the ground in an instant before he could restrain his own strength.

"Shit," Arashi cursed as he felt the killing intent roll off of Styles in thick waves.

"You… You killed it," Styles growled as he held out his scythe, ready to kill.

"Styles!" Yuna called out, "Arashi didn't mean to! He was just protecting himself!"

"Shut it!" the silver-haired man snapped, causing Yuna to flinch in fear before he turned his attention back to Arashi, "Humans like you, are the kind I want to kill most."

The S-Class mage returned Styles' glare with his own, "I figured this would happen in the end. It looks like I'll have to beat some respect into you."

"All I need to do is cut you once and your mine," Styles said lowly with sinister grin.

"Thanks for the strategy hint," Arashi grinned as Styles charged at him with a roar, swinging down his scythe as Arashi side-stepped the attack, "Aether's Vortex!" he announced as a swirling red vortex of energy appeared beneath Styles, sending him flying back before Arashi closed the gap again with Aether Surge, "Crimson Cannon!" he shouted as a beam of red energy was fired from his hands, sending Styles flying back even further from taking the attack at point-blank.

"Tch… Not bad human," Styles huffed as he wiped some blood from his mouth.

"You're human too," Arashi answered coldly.

"Not like you though," Styles growled, "Blood Magic: Blood of Essence!" he announced as his own blood flew into the air around him, taking the shape of different weapons before they flew towards Arashi."

"Aether's Radiance!" Arashi shouted as red energy flew out from around him in a wave, blasting the blood from the air, only to see Styles quickly closing the distance, his scythe already swinging down, "Chain Magic: Chains of Punishment!" Arashi yelled as a crimson colored chain shout out from his hand, attaching to Styles' scythe just in time from Arashi to pull it from the Blood Mage's hands.

"Damn you!" Styles roared as he swung his fist down instead, the blow connecting with Arashi's face as he knocked the S-Class mage down into the ground.

"That's enough!" Yune screamed, although the two men ignored her as they continued fighting, "I said that's enough! Artemis' Arrow!" she yelled as the bow made of magic appeared in her hands before she quickly launched an arrow at both Arashi and Styles, both finding their mark since the men were too engrossed in the fight to pay attention to her.

"The hell are you doing!?" Styles shouted as he stood back up from the girl's attack.

Arashi stood back up quietly though, finally having been snapped out of it as he realized what he was doing, "Thanks Yune," he said quietly before looking back at Styles, "The question is what are we doing," Arashi stated.

"What?" the Blood Mage asked as Nina trotted up to Styles, staring down Arashi.

"Two people of the same guild are trying to kill each other. In the middle of a mission no less," Arashi explained, "How does that make any sense?"

"Grr… But you-!"

"I know what I did. I acted on instinct, not purposefully," Arashi interjected, cutting off Styles, "If you want to settle this so badly, we'll do it back at the guildhall after we've stopped these animals from going berserk."

Nina looked up at Styles, the man looking back down at her, 'He's correct in that matter, you should settle this after the animals are back in their right minds,' he heard the wolf say in his mind.

"Fine," Styles conceded, "We'll settle this back at the guildhall."

Arashi and Yune both let out a sigh of relief at hearing that, the both of them were worried that it might take knocking him out to get him to stop, but their relief was short-lived as they all felt a wave of madness and hatred wash over the area, all of them quickly turning their heads to see a shadowy figure with a shard of a mirror hanging from their neck.

"HuMAnsss…" the figure hissed, "KiLL… DiE… dIE diE diediediediedie!" they kept repeating, as if they were a broken record before it bent backwards in an impossible way, "DIE!" it screeched before dashing towards them all at an impossible speed.

**. : + : .**

Ziv and Miriam quickly walked side by side, every few seconds one of them picking up the pace as they tried to walk faster than the other through the streets of Freesia Town.

"They've even made walking a competition," Jayne cried as she tried to keep up with the other two girls. What was even more upsetting though, is that this had been the case all day it seemed, the two girls had even made asking the mayor questions about the disappearances a competition to see who could ask more questions.

The three girls quickly made their way through town as they had been checking the various warehouses scattered throughout it since everybody else who had attempted this mission had always mentioned searching a warehouse before they disappeared, although the mayor was uncertain which one it was.

"Hey," Jayne called out, momentarily gaining Ziv and Miriam's attention, "Do you ever feel like you're being watched?" she asked, "Cause I've felt like that for a while now."

"I think you're still feeling spooked from that creep we saw in the train station," Ziv responded as she remembered the silver-haired man.

"Although we have seen that pale woman with the motorbike a few times now," Miriam mentioned.

"Well, there are only three warehouses left to check and I say we check out this one," Ziv declared, pointing to a nearby warehouse on a map.

Miriam's brow twitched in irritation before she pointed at a different warehouse, "Well I say we check out this one!"

Jayne sighed as she watched the two girls start arguing again, "Well if neither of you can agree, then we're going to this one! No arguments!" Jayne announced as she pointed at the third warehouse, the other two girls eventually agreeing since they weren't getting anywhere.

The three of them quickly made their way to the warehouse, opening the large door as quietly as they could upon arriving, only for the terrible scents of blood and rotting flesh to waft out at them.

"Hrk," Jayne gagged as she quickly ran away from the door, emptying the contents of her stomach onto the ground once she was far enough away from Miriam and Ziv.

'_Burn…' _she heard echo throughout her mind.

"No…" Jayne whispered, grabbing her head in fear as the voice echoed again.

"Jayne," she heard Ziv call out, "Are you all right?"

Jayne quickly snapped out of her trance after hearing Ziv's voice, "Huh? Oh… I'll be fine," she answered as she stood up, "I guess we found the kidnapper's lair, huh?"

Ziv eyed the girl warily for a moment longer before nodding, "I think so, and I'm guessing that a lot of people have died in there too," she responded while Miriam poked her head into the warehouse, looking up to see mutilated bodies hanging from the ceiling, blood slowly dripping from them, turning the ground a rusty red color.

"The mayor said only young girls and women had been kidnapped," Miriam called out, "These bodies are mostly male. So I guess we know what happed to other people who tried to take this mission."

"Well let's investigate then," Jayne said, putting on a brave face as she walked past Ziv and into the warehouse with Miriam, Ziv falling in step as the three of them ventured further into the warehouse.

The three girls kept a steady, quiet pace as they crept along, deeper into the warehouse. The stench of blood and rotting flesh growing stronger as they went along. They suddenly froze when they all heard a piercing scream nearby.

"Let's go!" Miriam hissed as the three of them picked up the pace, the group eventually coming across a door, where they heard another scream.

"It came from in there," Ziv whispered.

"We've got to stop whatever's going on in there," Jayne urged as Miriam grabbed the doorknob and quietly opened up the door, revealing a young woman with horns carving up another woman's arm.

"I cut off your hand earlier," the horned woman said nonchalantly, "So I figured I'd carve you a new one," she explained as continued carving the stub of the woman's arm into a hand-like shape, "Now hold still!" she hissed as she stabbed a small blade through the hand the woman still had.

"That's…" Jayne muttered in horror.

"That sadistic little," Miriam hissed as she took a step forward into the room.

"Sun God's Bellow!" Ziv roared as she launched a roar of black sunlight towards the horned woman past Miriam, the woman looking over at the blast in annoyance as she let it hit her, the spell carrying her across the room and into the far wall.

"Ziv!" Jayne called out as the other girl quickly ran into the room towards the tortured woman.

"It'll be all right," Ziv said softly, tears forming in the tortured woman's eyes.

"Th-The others…," she muttered, her voice coming out as a hoarse whisper, "O-Over there… save them," she pleaded before she closed her eyes, having succumbed to her wounds.

"Rest in peace," Ziv whispered, "We'll carry out your last will."

"Did she croak?" they heard the horned woman ask from the far wall, all three of them looking over at her to see that she had no wounds, "Normally I would be upset, but now I've got three new human cattle to play around with."

"Cattle!?" Jayne hissed as she ran forward with Miriam to stand next to Ziv, "Humans aren't cattle!"

"To a human's point of view maybe," the woman responded, "But to a Nightmare, that's all you are. Cattle never see themselves as cattle."

"A… Nightmare?" Miriam repeated, "The heck is that?"

"Nightmares… Especially those of us of the Humanoid variety. We are the creatures created by our lord and master, Phantasm! We surpass humans in every way and our goal is the eradication of all human life!" the woman shouted, fervent belief clearly seen in her eyes, "And I am the Nightmare of Giving in to Dark Desires: Edina Adelaide! Now… Try and provide your superior with some entertainment," Edina said lowly, a sinister smile on her face before she vanished, appearing in the air behind Ziv and planting a hard kick into her back, sending the girl flying.

"Ziv!" Jayne shouted as she turned to watch Edina twist in the air to face her, "Light Shield!"

"Banshee Magic: Delta Screech!" Edina announced before letting out a deafening scream that had enough force to break through Jayne's shield and send her flying into a different wall.

"Night Slash!" Miriam announced as she slashed at Edina with her magic, the Nightmare letting the blow cut through her much to Miriam's shock.

"Electric Bellows!" Edina screeched as she released an electrically charged sound wave towards Miriam, shocking her as the third girl went flying, "Do you see the difference?" Edina asked as the claw marks on her body started to self-heal completely, "Humans can't match up to Nightmares, no matter how hard they try."

"Bullshit!" Miriam roared as she got back up and charged at Edina, "Night's Creation: Katana!" she announced as she began to charge towards Edina again.

"Sun God's Fury!" Edina heard Ziv announce from the far wall as black sunlight flew from Ziv in the form of several beams that were curving towards Edina.

"Light Beam!" Jayne shouted as she fired a beam of light from her hand towards Edina.

"Fun…" Edina said beneath her breath as she leapt over the beam of light, letting the first beam of sunlight hit her to that she could start twisting through the air to nimbly dodge the next few as Miriam closed in, ready to cut clean through Edina with her katana.

"Blinding Light!" Jayne shouted as she ran towards Edina, releasing a bright light that forced the Nightmare to close her eyes, giving Miriam an opening to slash the Nightmare in two with her sword.

"Eh?" the Nightmare gawked as she fell to the ground, "I was right… You three are fun!" she laughed maniacally.

"Edina!" they all heard a harsh voice call out from the entrance, everyone turning their heads to see a silver-haired man standing in the doorway, "Compose yourself," he ordered as he stepped into the room.

"Agni…" Edina growled lowly.

"Why haven't you let that Nightmare loose?" Agni asked as he pointed to the Nightmare that was obediently sitting in the corner.

"It's funner this way," Edina answered nonchalantly as her legs and outfit began to reform, the Nightmare standing back up much to the three girl's horror.

"How?" Ziv gawked as she watched Edina walk over to Agni's side.

"I told you. Nightmares surpass humans in every way and now that Agni's here you'll wish you died fighting me," Edina responded with a wink.

"Beast!" Agni called out, catching the monstrous Nightmare's attention, "Kill."

"Food!" the monster roared before charging at the three girls, only for a large boom to come from overhead as a figure shrouded in black fell from the ceiling, dropping onto the Nightmare.

"Soul Curse: Reap," the figure said lowly as she penetrated the Nightmare's body with her fist before the creature turned into a puddle of black goo, "Looks like I'm just in time," the person said as they stood up, revealing her to be a pale woman with brown hair and wearing a black outfit.

"Rhiannon Yates," Agni growled lowly, "So master was right, Euclid is playing both sides since he's sent you here."

"Euclid!" Ziv gasped, remembering the man from her mission into the ruins.

"No, Euclid didn't send me here," Rhia growled lowly, "I came here because there were Nightmares to be killed. Hey, Undine's Cove mages," Rhia called out, "I know you're not on the best of terms with my boss, but we have a common enemy here. So let's kill 'em."

"We can't trust her!" Ziv shouted, anger evident in her eyes.

"Heh, I agree but… We don't have a choice," Miriam huffed, "We'll die if she doesn't help."

"We'll fight with you!" Jayne called out.

"You three take that Edina Nightmare like you were then," Rhia stated, "Leave Agni to me."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there it is! Chapter 27! I hope you enjoyed it.

So yeah, in my opinion, the winner between Styles vs. Arashi was Yune. But yeah, hopefully the scenes with the Nightmares weren't too terribly gruesome, I did tone them down a lot from what they were. Originally I had described a lot more of the torture and the state of the woman's body, but it would've forced me to change the rating to M for sure, but I still wanted to get across how twisted the whole situation was. Just know that it was really messed up and was not for the faint of heart to read.

**Credits:**

**Edina Adelaide- Dreadburner94**

"**The Great" Marcus Shields- MyDearWatson**

So yeah, The Great Marcus Shields has made his way from Thunder Stone to Undine's Cove because I absolutely love his character, so I had to get him for this mission from MyDearWatson.

Anyways, I'll have the next chapter up soon and don't forget to review!

Your host,

Dreadburner94.


	35. Myrick Donovan

**A/N: **And here's Chapter 28! That's number 3 for the challenge now!

I don't really have much to say this time around I believe. Although the list of themes has grown a bit more since I last mentioned them if you haven't checked those out yet.

M'kay then, I'd like to thank PrinceOfTheMatrix88, WrittenWhim, Joshua1277, SaiyaStyles, MyDearWatson, WaterDragonMaverick, M-anonymous, Guardian of Metal and lexlovesya for their reviews for the last chapter.

**PrinceOfTheMatrix88- **I'm happy to hear that you think the last chapter turned out so well! I honestly really enjoyed the fight scenes as well last chapter and Marcus Shields is the best thief ever.

**WrittenWhim- **Yep, such a twisted scene was necessary to get across just how the Nightmares really are, and yeah, the three girls are in quite the pickle, but fortunately they have an uneasy alliance with Rhia for this battle. And yeah, Marcus Shields was like a breath of fresh air for the last chapter and its dark nature, but yeah, it'll be quite the hectic chase to get them all.

**Joshua1277- **I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the chapter! Yeah, it started off in quite the brutal way, but it got the message across perfectly about what kind of enemy is being dealt with. And yeah, Marcus' thieving skills may not be the best, but at least he tries his hardest. And yeah, Arashi and Styles are at each other's throats now and the fight with Nightmares is definitely going to get interesting soon.

**SaiyaStyles- **Well torture is Edina's hobby, so there's plenty of that going around. But yeah, being able to stand back up after getting cut in half leaves room for some arrogance I think, but not all of the Nightmares are quite like Edina in personality, the current example being Agni. But yeah, thanks for sending in those additional spells and stuff, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**MyDearWatson- **Yep, the scary thing though is how much more twisted it was before I toned it down, but yeah, I think it gives quite the idea of just exactly how these Nightmares act and think. And yes! The Great Marcus Shields has returned and no locked door shall stop his legend! But yeah, the two teams are definitely in for a chase with him around. And yeah, poor Yune getting stuck with those two, but she came out on top in Arashi vs. Styles! And yeah, Rhia showed up just in time before things got messy with those Nightmares. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Yeah, Edina is defined by her twistedness and belittling view of humanity really. And then yes! The Great Marcus Shields! He'll lead them all on quite the chase to be sure. And then well, the two of them just don't see eye-to-eye at all really, so a fight between those two was just waiting to happen. And then yeah, Rhiannon is one of the far more agreeable members of Euclid's gang, but now she's up against a character who I believe is actually one of the most dangerous villains in the story, he's certainly up in the top 10, so we'll see how Rhia stacks up soon. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**M-anonymous- **Nope, Nightmares will never bode well in this story. Their appearance will usually mean something bad is going to happen or is happening. I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**Guardian of Metal- **Yeah, the Nightmares are rather creepy, plus with their disposition against humans, they're rather dangerous as well. Anyways, I hope you enjoy the chapter!

**lexlovesya- **I'm happy to hear that you enjoyed the Great Marcus Shields so much, for more of him, check out Thunder Stone! He's only in like two chapters, but still, Marcus Shields. And yep, Yune wins. But yeah, the original draft of the scenes with Edina in them were really messed up… so they were toned down a ton from what they were, so yeah, calling a Nightmare creepy is definitely an understatement. Anyways, I'm happy to hear that I'm doing well with Ziv. Speaking of Ziv, she seems to have bad luck with the missions she's gotten so far, first Euclid, now Nightmares… poor Ziv.

I don't own Fairy Tail!

I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 28: Myrick Donovan<strong>

Salina sat in her office, the sun setting over the cove as she sorted through different files. It was rather quiet and lonesome at the guild, as the only people there were herself and Caleb.

"Hm… I wonder how everyone's missions are going," Salina mumbled as she leaned back in her chair, a serious expression on her face as she recalled several incidents that had occurred in recent missions, "Euclid… Nightmares… What's next?" she continued mumbling as she kept recalling all of the different mission reports, "Hopefully nothing bad will happen."

"I would not count on that happening," she heard a deep voice call out.

"Who's there!?" Salina shouted as she quickly stood up and looked around the room, only to see a crow that had strange purple and red eyes sitting in the open window.

"Miss Salina Velvet I presume," the crow said as it hopped forward on the ledge as much as it could, "My name is Proclus and I have a message for you."

"Proclus?" Salina repeated as she recalled the name from Arashi's report, "What do you want?" she asked lowly, a glare coming onto her face as the sky darkened with thunderclouds, "No, what does Euclid want?"

"You've done your own research it seems," the spirit chuckled as it flew into the room, landing on Salina's desk, "Euclid merely wishes to give you a message. Something you may find useful."

"What?" Salina growled, "What makes you think that I want to hear anything he has to say after what he did?"

"They will die," Proclus stated, catching the guild master off guard, "If you do nothing, your precious mages, Kiyeda Hasanari, Ajax Cruz and Rayner Casimir will die."

"How!?" Salina shouted, grabbing the crow and slamming it against the wall.

"I thought that would catch your attention," she heard the voice say from the window again as the eyes of the crow she was holding returned to normal, "They will encounter a foe far too dangerous for them to conquer, but you, you could save them."

"Why are you telling me this?" Salina asked lowly as she released the crow she was holding to turn towards the new one, "What does Euclid want in return for this?"

"He merely wishes for everyone to make it out of this situation alive," Proclus answered, "It would be an inconvenience if those three died."

Salina's glare only grew harsher at hearing that, thunder cracking in the distance from her frustration. If she didn't go it would inconvenience Euclid, but she would run the risk of leaving her mages to die. If she did go she could save her mages, but there was a chance that Proclus wasn't telling the truth and that this was a mere trap.

"If this is a trap," Salina began to say lowly as she glared down at the crow, "You'll quickly learn why I am not someone to trifle with."

"Ah, I assure you that it is not a trap," Proclus stated, "But in all actuality, you should hurry if you want to make it on time."

Salina clicked her tongue and swiftly turned on her heels, quickly walking out of her room and down the stairs. The woman practically kicked open the door to the infirmary after walking out of the bar area.

"Salina!" Caleb gasped, shocked that she had stormed in like that.

"Come on!" Salina shouted as she stepped into the building, grabbing Caleb's arm as she started to drag him behind her, "We're going!"

"Going where?" the healer asked, still confused by the whole situation.

"To help!" Salina answered as she dragged Caleb out the door, "Now stop dragging your heels, we're flying," she added as she started to push them into the air by manipulating the wind.

"Salina! Hold on! Wait!" Caleb pleaded as they took off into the air.

Proclus sat atop of the guild building, holding a small, bronze pendant in his beak as he watched the last two mages leave the guild, leaving it empty, 'What a troublesome woman,' he inwardly sighed, 'No wonder Euclid is so fascinated with her,' he added in thought before flying over to the female dorm building, a small monkey opening one of the windows facing the jungle for him as he flew inside, landing on the burgundy bed, 'Time to plant the first one then,' Proclus thought as he hopped about, looking for a suitable place to hide the pendant, 'Hmm… someplace that looks to be rarely touched would be suitable,' he continued as he quickly flew over to the desk, spotting a small box sitting over on a small table on the other side of the bookshelf on the opposite side of the room.

The monkey quickly climbed into the room to examine the box, seeing a layer of dust on it. Upon lifting the lid it was revealed to hold an ornate ceremonial dagger inside of it that was resting on a red cushion. The monkey slightly tugged on the cushion to see whether or not it could be removed, Proclus inwardly smirking upon the realization that it could.

Proclus quickly flew over to the monkey, dropping the pendant in its hand before flying off. The monkey in response quickly hid the pendant under the cushion and closed the lid before climbing out of the room and shutting the window.

"There, now all that's left is to allow Reina to make her move and we'll have fulfilled our bargain with that man," Proclus huffed as he flew off.

**. : + : .**

Aspen rushed headlong into the group of slavers. She wasn't sure why she was being so reckless, but there she was in the midst of them all, Sean and Kaiyo running in to back her up. What she couldn't understand though, is why she had started to fall backwards, a blade coming down on her. She hadn't been pushed or pulled, none of these slavers had magic and she certainly hadn't tripped or slipped.

"Asssspeenn!" she heard Jean scream as she watched the man holding the Exceed swing a sword at her as she fell.

"Glacier Lock!" Aspen announced as a wall of ice formed in the air, blocking the sword while she used the opportunity to bounce up off of the ground and kick the man in the gut, forcing him to release Jean.

"My hero!" Jean cheered as his wings appeared, the cat flying towards Aspen, "Let me give you a tight hug to reward-"

"Shut it cat!" Aspen screamed as she grabbed Jean by the tail, using him as a blunt weapon to bash a slaver in the face.

"Sean! Aspen's gone mad!" the Exceed screamed before the temperature mage bashed him into another slaver, "Help your grandfather!"

Sean stopped in his tracks and sighed, "You know what… I'm fine with this somehow. He's safe enough."

"You sure?" Kaiyo called back.

"I don't like getting into fights anyways. So I'll hang back and protect the client," Sean answered as he watched Kaiyo run into the group of slavers.

"All right then, Blade of Chivalry!" Kaiyo announced as his sword appeared in his hands as he slashed through a small group of enemies, "I've got your back!"

Aspen glanced back at Kaiyo briefly before looking back at the enemy in front of her, "Brisk Zephyr!" she announced as she released and extremely cold, ice shard filled wind towards several of the slavers in front of her, cutting many of them and leaving the rest too cold to move, "Let's hurry and finish the rest of them off."

Kaiyo nodded before a few beads appeared in his free hand, "Raven Harmonics!" he shouted as he threw the beads into the midst of the slavers, a geyser of darkness erupting beneath them for each bead thrown, "That should take care of them all," he muttered as he looked at the group of slavers, all of them now lying unmoving on the ground.

"Oh? Did you get them all?" Sean asked as Aspen released Jean, who quickly flew over to Sean and away from Aspen.

"Sean!" the Exceed screamed with tears in his eyes, "She's terrible! She used me as a weapon! Why didn't you stop her!?"

"That probably would've gotten me punched first off," Sean sighed, "And secondly, you probably deserved all of that."

"You're terrible," Jean sobbed.

"I know," Sean sighed.

"Are you all right sir?" Kaiyo asked the nobleman as he ran up to the carriage.

"Yes, perfectly fine thanks to your marvelous display!" the nobleman answered happily.

"That's good to hear, sir," Kaiyo responded politely, "We'll be on our way again soon once we clear some of these slavers out of the way for the carriage," he explained as he looked over at the battlefield to see that Aspen was already dragging some of the slavers away from the path.

Soon enough, the path was cleared and the group was on their way again. The trip only lasted for about another hour before they reached the nobleman's estate.

"That old guy sure was generous," Kaiyo stated as they left the estate, "He even gave us a bonus for the fight."

"Rich people like him enjoy flaunting their wealth," Aspen muttered, still feeling uneasy from the earlier fight.

"Did you even do anything, Sean?" Jean asked as he floated in the air to Sean's left.

"I guarded the client," he responded.

"But did you do anything?"

Sean thought about it for a little while before shrugging, "Depends on what you mean I suppose."

"So that's a no then," Jean sighed before whacking Sean on the head with his staff, "Lazy oaf! Your grandfather needed your help!"

"Yeah, yeah," Sean sighed as they kept walking towards the edge of the estate property.

Aspen kept thinking about what had happened back there with the slavers, 'What caused me to lose my cool? How did I fall over?' she asked herself over and over, but a voice calling out her name brought her out of her thoughts, "Hm?" she hummed as she looked up, before she gasped in surprise.

"Yo! Aspen!" a man with maroon hair called out from ahead of them.

"Chance," Aspen growled lowly.

"How's your luck been?" Chance asked, a smirk on his face as he approached the group of mages.

**. : + : .**

Hughes was pleasantly surprised. So far Nevara hadn't done anything to mess them up. The summoning had taken Roseala and Varic safely, and quietly, into the fortress, but he still had a bad feeling about it all.

"You know, my being here so long must be putting a strain on the girl," Nevara suddenly announced.

"No…" Hughes muttered cautiously.

"I should really look out for her wellbeing shouldn't I?" the crow asked rhetorically.

Hughes gulped out of nervousness, he knew what was coming and he knew that nothing he said would change Nevara's mind.

"So I'll drop you off here to make things easier for her. Aren't I nice? Looking out for the girl like this," Nevara smirked before vanishing, leaving Hughes in a freefall.

"You blasted crow!" he screamed as he fell, the mage barely managing to land in a haystack in the courtyard of the fortress.

"Oi! What was that?" he heard one of the bandits shout.

"Sounded like screamin' to me," another one mentioned.

"Well quite standing around and search the place!" a third bandit bellowed as they all started to investigate the area.

'That blasted crow… Look what it's gotten me into,' Hughes inwardly complained, 'I can't stay here forever, but there's too many for me to do anything else without alerting the whole fortress. Dammit.'

"Oi! Has anyone searched the haystack yet?" Hughes suddenly heard a bandit ask, "Haystacks is where everyone hides!"

"Right! Let's all surround it to be sure!" another bandit shouted in agreement as several of them started to walk near where Hughes was hiding.

'All right, calm down Hughes… You've just got to wait for them all to get close enough,' he thought as the bandits started inching closer.

"All boys, stab on three!" one of the bandits shouted as the sound of weapons being drawn filled the area, "One… two… three!"

"Now!" Hughes shouted as he leapt out of the haystack, "Acid Whip!" he announced as he twisted in the air, a whip of acid forming in his hand as he struck each of the bandits across the chest with it, each of them falling down unconscious, "Perfect! Now I've got to find to find the others!" he added as he ran off in search of his teammates.

Varic and Roseala quietly walked through a corridor in the main building of the fortress.

"You're sure that crow just up and vanished while holding Hughes?" Varic quietly asked again for the umpteenth time.

"Yes… I'm sorry," Roseala apologized again, "Nevara does stuff like this all of the time cause she doesn't like being summoned."

"Hey, I told you it's not your fault. It's that crow's fault," Varic huffed.

"I know… But I'm sorry," the girl apologized yet again.

Varic let out a sigh, deciding to just drop the subject, "Well we can't do anything for Hughes unless we know where he is. So we might as well press on and try to find that artifact before making a sweep of the fortress to try and find Hughes."

"M'kay," Roseala mumbled as they continued searching the building they were in, the two of them eventually coming across a long balcony that overlooked what appeared to be the throne room.

"Well I'll be damned," Varic whispered as they peered over the edge of the balcony, seeing piles and piles of treasure surrounding the throne, which had a woman sitting on it.

The woman was fairly tall, standing at 5'10" with pale skin and a large bust. She was very fit and she had long amber hair with her bangs parted so that her hair stayed out of her face and her cold, gray eyes. She was wearing a forest green, military-esque jacket with a pair of brown pants that were tucked into black boots.

"Is that the Bandit King?" Roseala asked as she pointed down at the woman.

"It can't be," Varic said with a shake of his head, "It'd be Bandit Queen if it was."

"Hm… I think she's the Bandit King," Roseala said as she puffed her cheeks out in irritation.

"Fine, we'll assume she's the king then," Varic sighed, "Could've claimed the title king just to recruit people I guess. Now then, how to get down there."

"We could jump," they heard a deep voice suggest from behind them.

"No, that's too obvious," Varic disagreed, "Maybe for a surprise attack, but I'd rather avoid a…" he started to explain before trailing off, "Who said that?" he asked as they both slowly turned around to see a large, imposing figure.

"Dante!" Roseala shrieked, scared out of her mind by his sudden appearance so much that she jumped up.

"Who's there!?" they heard the woman who was sitting on the throne shout, Varic looking back down to see that she had found them.

"Crap… No choice now," he huffed, "Ice-Make: Stairs!" he announced as a flight of stairs leading down appeared in front of him, "We're already here so we might as well fight and get it over with."

"Please stand back, Lady Roseala," Dante suggested as stepped forward.

'It's your fault we're in this mess,' Varic huffed under his breath.

"A few intruders lurking about then," the woman smirked, "Mages too. You're here for one of two things then: To take my life or to recover one of my treasures."

"The latter one," Varic answered, "So if you could just let us find the one we're looking for we'll be on our way and leave you alone."

"I'm afraid that's not an option," the woman replied, "I am the Bandit King, Diana Crescentia, and it would be a stain on my reputation if I let intruders leave my fortress in one piece," she said menacingly as she drew a sword.

"Well… I tried," Varic sighed, "Guess we're fighting then."

Roseala looked at Dante briefly, realizing that he was using his own magic to remain in this world, "Dante!" she shouted, giving the signal for the fight to begin as the Lion Fable leapt into the air.

"Lion-Make: Lightning!" the Fable roared as he released his magic.

**. : + : .**

Rayner's eyes went wide as he watched the red spear pierce straight through his shield, the young man barely having enough time to twist out of the way so that the blade merely grazed his side, his blood flying into the air.

"I'm all right!" he announced, "It just grazed me is all," he added as they all turned to look to where the spears had come from.

"Why don't you all come out where we can see you!" Ajax shouted, irritated that whoever these people were got the drop on them.

"You're slipping Aedan," a man chuckled as he stepped out of the foliage with two people at his side, a man and a woman.

This man stood at 5'11" with a light tan and lean and muscular build. He had short black hair that was slicked back with a 5 o'clock shadow and intense ice blue eyes. The man was wearing dark, boot cut jeans, which were held up by a black leather holster and belt that carried a katana in a black sheath, that were tucked into black, leather combat boots that had metal studs down the sides of them as well as around the holes for the shoe strings. He was also wearing a white, v-neck shirt and a long, black leather coat that billowed out more and more the farther down it went. The man also had his ears pierced with metal studs and he had dog-tags hanging from his neck on a silver chain necklace.

"I can't help it that he blocked the first one, Myrick" the second man, Aedan, replied as the two spears disappeared and quickly reappeared in his hands.

Aedan stood at six feet even with a light tan and a lean and well-defined muscular build. He had dark blond hair that was messily slicked back that reached just past his shoulders, but a long strand of hair was left hanging in his face, often resting next to one his teal colored eyes. Aedan wore a sleeveless, skin tight black shirt that reached halfway up his neck with form fitting, dark jeans that were tucked into black calf high, steel-toed boots and his ears were pierced with teal studs.

"The better thing to be said is why didn't you aim for the girl instead?" the woman said in a cold tone.

"I liked the look in his eyes, Kyna," Aedan responded, unfazed by her tone, "He looked like he might know his way around a weapon."

The woman, Kyna, rolled her eyes in response, not even dignifying Aedan's reason with a response. Kyna stood at 5'6" with pale skin and a slim and athletic build that had subtle curves. She had auburn hair that fell down to her shoulders, but was kept up in a neat bun with a pair of black chopsticks while her bangs neatly framed her face and stayed out of her gold eyes. Kyna was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans that were tucked into a pair of knee-high, black heeled boots with a cream colored, sleeveless turtleneck sweater. She also wore a pair of black, plastic glasses and she had silver bangles around each of her wrists and a gold necklace hanging around her neck that had a gold, oval-shaped locket on it.

"Chloe! We need to go!" the Exceed, Taimi urged as she tried to get her friend up off of the ground.

"So these guys have been chasing you?" Kiyeda asked lowly, receiving a nod from Chloe as she stood up.

"They just showed up all of a sudden and started attacking me," Chloe explained softly.

Ajax stared at the three figures a while longer, the nagging feeling that something was familiar about the woman of the group, 'Sorcha?' he thought, 'No, she just looks like her for some reason."

"Oy! Pretty boy! Get your head out of the clouds!" he heard Rayner shout.

"Shut it you!" Ajax snapped back, "This isn't the time," he growled.

"So Kiyeda," Rayner called out, "Are we going to help her?"

"That depends if they're going to keep chasing her," the S-Class mage answered, "Well, what are your intentions!?"

The first man, Myrick, let a smirk cross his face. He felt slightly amused by the whole situation since the three mages seemed intent on standing in his way, "Well that girl has something I need and you three are standing in my way," he responded, "And if taking you three down will get me what I need quicker, then I guess you three have terrible luck."

"Leon," Ajax called out as his Exceed partner flew over to him, "I want you to get Chloe and Taimi out of here… I have a bad feeling about this."

"Right!" Leon chirped, "C'mon, let's go!" he shouted as he led the two girls away from them all.

"Be careful everyone and thank you!" Chloe called out as she ran off.

"I have a question for that woman," Ajax stated, "So leave her to me."

"If you're sure," Kiyeda responded.

"I want to see if my feeling was right about that kid, Myrick, so let me fight him," Aedan requested as he took his fighting stance.

"That's fine," Myrick replied, "Guess that leaves me and you, miss. Heh, you all really have bad luck."

"Underestimate me at your peril," Kiyeda growled lowly before they all charged at each other, Kiyeda's wings appearing on her back, "Angel's Lunar Sword!" she announced as her sword appeared, Myrick quickly stopping in his tracks as he held out his hand.

"Too bad," he smirked as Kiyeda's sword vanished as she swung it down towards Myrick before the man landed a monstrously powerful punch to her gut that left shockwaves ripping through the area around him before the S-Class mage was sent flying, her body cleaving trees in two as she flew through them from the force of Myrick's punch.

Kiyeda laid on the ground for a few minutes in a coughing fit as she tried to regain her breath, "What… happened?" she asked groggily as she tried to stand back up, "Was that… Nullification Magic?"

"Correct!" she heard Myrick call out as he came into view, the man lazily walking towards her, "And it looks like you're one leg in the grave already from just that one punch."

'This guy… is seriously a monster,' Kiyeda growled inwardly, "Prayer Circle!" she shouted as a beam of light shot down from the sky towards Myrick, the man simply sighing as the spell vanished before hitting him.

"You're too reliant on your magic," he said lowly before he quickly closed the gap between them, "Drainage Magic," he muttered as he grabbed Kiyeda by the throat, lifting her off of the ground.

"M-my magic," she gasped as she felt her magic power leave her body.

"I wonder how things are going for the other two," Myrick said out loud as he watched the sky become shrouded with thunderclouds.

"Glass Dragon's Scales!" Ajax shouted as he sidestepped Kyna's attack, glass now covering his body like scales.

"Glass… is fragile," Kyna said lowly as she held her hand out, "Sound Magic!" she announced as a wave of sound flew towards Ajax, the man leaping out of the way in time to dodge.

"Dammit," he cursed when he realized that his scales were cracking from the pressure even though he dodged the attack, "I have a question for you!" Ajax shouted, grabbing Kyna's attention, "Why do you look like Sorcha!?"

"Sorcha!" Kyna gasped, a look of shock crossing her face briefly before her expression hardened again, "No… I don't have an answer for you. I've hardened my resolve," she stated lowly before sending out another wave of sound towards Ajax.

"She won't answer, huh?" he huffed after dodging the sound wave, his scales cracking more and more from all of the pressure being thrown around, "Then I'll beat it out of her! Glass Dragon's Roar!"

"Tch… I've had enough of you," Kyna huffed as she dodged the roar of broken glass, "Silencing Magic!" she announced as all sound in the area ceased her mouth moving in silence as she cast her next spell, which resulted in a loud sonic boom reverberating throughout the area that's power was further enhanced by the silence that came before.

"Raaaaghh!" Ajax screamed out in pain as he fell down to his knees, his ears bleeding badly.

"Dragon Slayers are weak to sound," Kyna said softly, although Ajax couldn't hear her through the echoing noise in his head, "Your enhanced hearing is just a weakness against me," she continued in a soft tone as thunder cracked throughout the area.

"Very good!" Aedan said happily as Rayner managed to parry his spear strike, "It's not often that I find an interesting opponent."

Rayner didn't have any time to respond to the man though. He could deflect Aedan's gold spear, but his red one would just travel straight through his magically made weapons, the proof of that being all of the wounds Rayner had now, and Aedan's nonstop assault made things even more difficult on him since he kept getting disarmed and being forced to create new weapons each time.

"I've disarmed you quite a few times now," Aedan stated as he stood back up straight, "Your magic is fairly impressive, being able to produce so many weapons, but I can tell you're at your limit with how much panting you're doing."

"Dammit," Rayner cursed as he held out his two swords in front of him, 'Will I have to use that?' he questioned in his mind, 'If I do, it'll take at least a year off my current lifespan… But if I don't…'

"Hm? You still have the will to fight then," Aedan said with a smile as he watched Rayner's expression harden.

Rayner let the swords in his hands vanish as he took a step forward, weapons materializing all around him as he felt his mark start to writhe across his face, "My magic kills me slowly… every day my life comes closer to an end, but… I won't let it end here! Forge Magic! Great-!"

"No!" he heard a familiar voice cut him off as several lightning bolts struck the ground all throughout the area, "Everyone gather here!" he heard the voice echo throughout the area as strong winds pulled everyone off of their feet and into the air as they were all pulled back to the area they first started fighting in.

"Ajax! Kiyeda!" Rayner shouted upon seeing their unmoving bodies.

"It's okay… You did well," he heard the person say from behind him, as he turned to see…

"Salina… Caleb," Rayner said softly as he felt tears begin to form in his eyes, "We got beat… badly."

"I know, but it'll all be okay now," Salina said gently before turning to face Myrick, Kyna and Aedan, "You three harmed my mages," she stated lowly as her eyes began to gain a dark and chaotic look in them, a thunder crack roaring throughout the area as rain began to fall, "Caleb! Treat their injuries! I'll take care of these three."

"Come on, up you go," Caleb urged as he pulled one of Rayner's arms across his shoulders so that he could support Rayner as they stood up and began walking towards Ajax and Kiyeda.

"Salina!" Rayner called out, the guild master glancing in his direction, "Knock them down a few levels for us!"

Salina smirked for a moment before she turned her attention back to Myrick, "Who are you!?" she demanded.

"Who am I?" Myrick repeated, "My name is Mryick… Myrick Donovan."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **And there it is! Chapter 28! I hope you enjoyed it!

**Credits:**

**Myrick Donovan- MyDearWatson**

**Aedan Dillon- MyDearWatson**

**Kyna Florence- MyDearWatson**

So yeah, I'm a bit hyped for the next chapter this group is in, why? Cause Salina vs. Myrick of course! And yeah, team Kiyeda got trounced by this new group cause the gap in power is just that large.

Anyways, I'm going to try and have one more up, but no guarantees.

Your host,

Dreadburner94.


	36. Omake: 1 Year Anniversary Special!

**A/N: **Okay! This time it's Special Omake number two! And I've got two special omake scenes for you all today! Which makes this chapter/omake number 4 of the 1 Year Anniversary challenge! So to speak for me today is none other than our favorite breaker of the fourth wall! (P.S. She'll also be responding to all of the reviews for me too! So if they seem odd…) (P.S.S. Don't ask how the second scene came about… Tis a long and embarrassing story…)

**C/N (Celeste's Note): **Me! Celeste Arturia! You know you missed me. Don't deny it out of shyness, you know you love me. And if you don't remember me… you best keep that quiet and check out Special Omake: Celeste Arturia!? Right now!

All righty then! So, Dread would like to make sure that you all get that he thanks you for reviewing, after all, you take the time out of your lives to make your thoughts known about what he scribbles down and posts. But let's face it, it'd be better if there was more of me! Right? So then, he'd like to thank WrittenWhim, WaterDragonMaverick, MyDearWatson, Joshua1277, FrozenBlast13 and Stormhawk99 for their reviews for the last chapter!

**WrittenWhim- **Yeah, I'd like to fight Salina sometime. Hm… I wonder how I'd do? And yeah, that stupid cat totally doesn't know when to quit! If he ever tries anything on me… hehehe… That Chance guy though, he gets under my skin with how he's just been sitting back and acting all pompous. If he's a real man he'll stand and fight! Not hide like a coward… And yeah! I want to fight that 'Bandit King' too! You totally get it! Right? And I could take that Myrick guy! I could! Don't give me that look unless you want trouble!

**WaterDragonMaverick- **Grr… That stupid cat… horse… Vulcan… goblin… wyvern… crow… spirit… thing! Mother might be a stuck up cross-dresser, but she's my mother and if he's trying to pick a fight he's got one! And yeesh! Aspen better explain how she knows that Chance creep's name, he gets under my skin… And I could take that stupid lion! His magic isn't cooler than mine! Gunblade Magic's the best after all. Euclid… he seriously gives me the creeps… he's like the world's best stalker and he gets paid for it too! How's he know so much anyways… 'gasp' does he know about me? Does he!? 'Ahem'… And more people dropping more names… the heck is a 'Sorcha' anyways? Hm… is mother slacking off then? Taking an easy mission? Hehe… I'll surpass her quickly if she takes it so easy. And that Marcus guy! What a joke right? But I think that Zain guy with Wilhelm and Reno have got it pretty easy too since they're visiting with grandma Quinn.

**MyDearWatson- **Shhh! Don't tell Dread that! It'll go to his head, seriously… He gets full of himself sometimes… Hm… Salina, I think I like her! I should totally get into a fight with her sometime! But yeah… what's that… thing… think he's doing planting something in my mother's room! And yeah, that stupid cat got what he deserved! I'd use him as a weapon too! Who gives a crap if he's a 'magical cat' or whatever! Hm… I can't decide if I like that crow or not… On one hand she'd be great for pranks… on the other hand she's an ass… Hm… Well I guess it's okay to let Dread's ego get inflated a little bit if you think he did so well, but I could totally take all three of them on! First I'd take that Myrick guy out at the knees with Tyrhung, then I'd blast that Kyna girl in the face and then I'd cut up the last one whatever his name is! I could do it! I could! Stop laughing!

**Joshua1277- **They might be tough, but I could take them! And my guess is trouble! Or maybe it's just an elaborate prank… If it is, good for him. If not… And that stupid cat! I swear one of these days we'll find him doing something perverted in the girl's dorm… And Sean, I think that guy's just lazy… Lucky! Why's Hughes getting all of the fun? I just wanna let loose on waves of grunts too! Hm… Euclid and Aurora… I think Myrick, Kyna and what's-his-face actually took down those three quicker than those two did and there was an S-Class with them too! Hm… Maybe this Myrick guy is tougher than I thought… But I could still take him! I don't back down from a challenge!

**FrozenBlast13- **Yeah, that Edina is a really piece of work… Tch… But I could take her! And two muscle heads put neatly in their place, I couldn't have done it better myself… Oi… What's with that look? You're not calling me a muscle head are your? Are you!? And who says girls can't be kings!? I'd make a great king! Y'know, cause I'm so kind and benevolent. You're giving me that look again…

**Stormhawk99- **If you keep telling him that, it'll go to his head… And well… If they get into a fight it'll be totally interesting! Otherwise it's just a boring ol' escort mission if nothing happens…

Anyways, this Dread guy, there's no chance that he owns Fairy Tail! Have you seen his bank account?

I hope you all enjoy this Omake Special! I'm not in it though…

* * *

><p><strong>Omake Special: 1 Year Anniversary Special!<strong>

**A Matchmaker's Day**

Reno sat at the bar, bored out of her mind as she just watched Ajax and Rayner argue again with Leon adding his own two cents every now and then. It was just the same old, same old, and it was starting to get a bit boring for Reno. The bored girl slowly turned her head as she looked around to see who else was in the guild, she saw Camille and Miriam sitting off to one side and Jayne sitting off on the other side, completely engrossed in what she was writing. Knowing that Jayne was usually up to no good with her writing, Reno snickered at the thought of what she might be doing before she got up and walked over to the other girl.

"Watcha writing?" Reno asked as she leaned over Jayne's shoulder.

"My favorite crack pairing!" Jayne answered happily as she set her pencil down.

"Oh? Who are they!?" Reno asked, practically bouncing up and down as Jayne stood up with the paper in hand, a proud look on her face as she walked over towards Rayner and Ajax.

"RayJax!" she announced happily as she showed the two males the paper, both of their faces turning pale and then green as they read the girl's… descriptive writing.

"I'm gonna be sick," Rayner moaned.

"There's no way in hell something like that would happen," Ajax added, agitation in his voice. The two men briefly glanced at each other, faint blushes appearing on their faces.

"Why are you blushing!?" they both screamed, "Quit copying me!" the both shouted again before they resumed fighting.

"Just when I thought they had stopped," Camille sighed as she walked over to Jayne and Reno, Miriam not far behind her.

"What do you think about RayJax?" Jayne asked as she showed the other two girls the paper, Miriam beginning to laugh while a faint blush crossed Camille's face.

"I… um… congratulations you two," Camille said softly with a small bow towards Rayner and Ajax as her blush darkened, "I wish you both the best in regards to your future together."

Both of the men froze where they stood. Horrified looks on their faces.

"It's not like that!" they suddenly screamed.

"Oh? But according to this you two… have… already…" Camille started to say as she trailed off, her blush growing even darker as her ears began to turn red as well.

"It's fiction!" Rayner screamed.

"Fan Fiction!" Ajax added, "You know, not real!"

"But there's a grain of truth in every story," Camille muttered, an embarrassed look on her face as she poked her fingers together, "So… I'm sure you'll be happy together," she added softly, Rayner and Ajax both trying to correct her with dark blushes on their faces.

"Hahahaha!" Reno laughed, "That's great! The looks on their faces!" she continued as she started hiccupping between laughs.

"Hehe. I'm glad you like it so much!" Jayne chirped happily, "But what do you think about ReJax?" the girl asked in a suggestive tone as a blush came across Reno's face.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about, yeah?" Reno stuttered, "We've known each other since we were kids is all."

"And you!" Jayne shouted as she pointed at Miriam, "What do you think about… RayMiri?"

"Me and that idiot!?" Miriam shouted, a blush on her face, "He's clearly head over heels for that glass guy with how much he tries to touch him…"

"But you two fight a lot as well," Jayne mentioned, "You might even call them… lover's quarrels."

"It's not like that!" Miriam shouted, "He's just annoying is all…"

"Hehe…" Jayne chuckled as she hopped over to Camille, placing her hands on the girl's shoulders, "Now what about you? RayMille? AliMille? JaMille? Or maybe even the forbidden love between master and student! BeanieMille!?"

"No," Camille replied flatly.

"Eh?" Jayne gawked, "That was a boring reaction… But you're always looking after Rayner!"

"Because he's irresponsible," Camille answered.

"Well, you talk a lot with Jace!"

"He's friendly and enjoys speaking with me about weaponry."

"Beanie Guy?"

"He's married and has two sons a few years younger than me."

"Then Alistar!" Jayne shouted in desperation, "You've had your eyes on him since he beat you in the S-Class exams I hear!"

"He's strong…" Camille responded quietly.

"Oh?" Jayne hummed as she lifted an eyebrow, "He always gets you so emotional too."

"He's annoying," she added in an annoyed tone.

"And you're always nagging him about something."

"He's a womanizer!" Camille finally shouted.

"Hehe. That's the reaction I was looking for!" Jayne announced happily, "Well I think all of us girls should get together for once so that we can settle the matters of the heart!"

"Eh?" Camille, Reno and Miriam all gawked at the same time, all of them unsure of what would come of this.

**. : + : .**

**Fit For a Knight**

"Alistar," Camille called out as the group consisting of herself, Alistar and Roseala passed by a woman's underwear store in Hargeon, "There is something I must ask…"

Alistar turned to look at the girl. It wasn't often that Camille would ask anyone a question, let alone him, so this was surprising, "Yeah, what is it?"

"Why is there so much variety in undergarments covering the chest that one can get?" she asked suddenly in a very roundabout way.

Alistar stood there for a moment, his mind going blank as he processed the question.

"Oh! I want to know too!" Roseala chirped out, Alistar beginning to feel a bit more unsure about all of this. It wasn't really surprising that Roseala wouldn't know since she was a bit younger… but the fact that Camille was asking…

"Why are you asking me this?" the S-Class mage asked with a sigh, knowing full well that a guy would be just as stumped by the availability of many types of bras as well.

"I certainly understand that a woman must avoid exposing her body, that's why you need underwear," Camille huffed, "But why must there be a fuss over its appearance?"

"Fuss?" Alistar repeated, Roseala wearing a curious look on her face as she listened to the conversation.

"Yes. Take this store for example," Camille said as she gestured to the store next to them, "Underwear is not meant to be shown in the first place, so the sheer variety of styles on display is beyond my understanding."

"Um… That is… Well…" Alistar mumbled, unsure about what to say. If he dodged the question, Camille would certainly bring the conversation back to where she wanted it, and if he ran away she would hunt him down… let alone the fact that he would disappoint Roseala by not answering the question, "Ah! I think it must be something about a woman's pride," Alistar answered, wording it in a way that would be appealing to Camille.

"Pride?" Roseala repeated, clearly thinking about what that meant.

"Y-Yeah… Pride," Alistar mumbled, feeling like he might have said something really stupid just now, but knowing that he'd look even more stupid if he didn't follow it up with anything. So Alistar put on his most serious expression before continuing, "Compared to men's underwear, there's certainly a much more overwhelming variety of features and shapes and whatnot, but I believe that it's just not all about practicality when it comes to women's underwear."

"So are you saying…?" Camille muttered as she tried to process this information.

"Yes," Alistar responded with no hesitation, this was his argument's selling point right here, so he couldn't afford to miss the opportunity, "Things that make you stand out, the desire to wear things that suit you. All of those things are driven by self-esteem, therefore, pride."

"Oh…" Camille muttered, a serious expression on her face as she continued to mull over what she had just been told.

"Alistar," Roseala called out, "Your ears are really red."

"That's because you're both asking me about really embarrassing stuff!"

"…I see," Camille muttered, "I apologize… I did not think my question would disturb you so much. When I asked Jayne, she told me that you would provide a much more satisfying answer…"

"Is that right…?" Alistar muttered, a cross look on his face as he imagined Jayne's laughter right now.

"Thank you Alistar. I think I finally understand," Camille said with a small bow.

"Eh? Really?"

"Pride, that is, self-confidence, that is something I understand," she explained, a soft smile on her face.

"Well, I'm not doubting you there," Alistar laughed, "It's just that I don't really have any expertise in this field."

"That is no problem," Camille replied with a small shake of her head, "As you may know, I have never truly been raised as a girl. So I have grown up with the urge to hide my feminine side. Truly I know nothing about women's clothing, but as I was raised to become a knight, pride is something I truly understand and know the importance of. So I believe that expressing yourself, one's own femininity through choice of underwear, is something that I think I am now beginning to understand."

Alistar and Roseala listened carefully to Camille's declaration, as if something truly amazing had just happened right in front of their eyes.

Camille stood there for a moment longer as she started fidgeting, an embarrassed look on her face, "So… Alistar… Thank you. My crude outlook would never let me notice such a thing."

"Eh, it's no big deal really, we should all do our best at everything we can," Alistar replied, 'But by god it was embarrassing…,' although all of his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by something outrageous.

"Alistar. I need to refine my womanhood by observing Jezabelle, Jayne and the others," Camille declared.

"Eh?" Alistar gawked, his mind drawing a complete blank as a feeling of discomfort came over him as his instincts told him to begin fleeing if he wanted to avoid something dangerous.

"If you do not mind, could you come with me to this 'lingerie shop' sometime?" Alistar's face completely paled as he heard something terrifying come from Camille's mouth.

"L-li-ling-erie… sh-shop…"

"I was saying something profound earlier… but the truth is that I am unable to tell what sort of clothing suits me or not asides for my suit," Camille admitted, "But if I can hear another person's perspective on the matter… I will… be glad," she added with a dark blush.

"Wh-what! Don't be ridiculous! Is this another one of Jayne's suggestions!?" Alistar shouted, his face completely red from embarrassment.

"Is it really that outrageous?" Camille muttered.

"I see men in that store!" Roseala added, pointing into the underwear shop next to them.

"Yes. If you are embarrassed from being in an unfamiliar place, it is the same for me," Camille explained, a serious look on her face that was telling Alistar that there would be no escape this time.

"Th-that's completely different though…"

"Then what was that about 'doing our best at everything we can' then?" Camille huffed, her hands on her hips.

"L-look, just ask Jayne about advice for underwear or something," Alistar pleaded.

"No! I cannot be resigned to being on the receiving ends of favors forever!" Camille countered, "I've heard that there is even underwear designed to be shown on the outside! If that is true, then I will need a second opinion!"

"….." Alistar stood there in complete silence, he could hardly believe what was happening, but he would not be defeated here, "No! Absolutely not!"

"Oh ho…" Camille huffed, an extremely dangerous expression on her face, "If you are going to be so stubborn about this… then I have an idea as well."

'Crap… that look in her eyes… like that of a lion about to pounce her prey… It's over…'

"Under no conditions will I put on any underwear that you don't help me pick out!" she declared at the top of her lungs, drawing many odd looks from people around them, not that it was deterring her any.

"How did it come to this!?" Alistar screamed, Roseala merely amazed at the whole situation.

"So please accompany me in my mission," she added in complete seriousness.

"To the front of the store! But I won't go any farther than that!" Alistar countered.

"That is pointless!" Camille shouted before Alistar took off running, "Get back here!" she screamed before taking off after the S-Class mage.

"She's amazing…" Roseala said in awe as she watched them take off.

"The heck is that?" Jace asked as a dust cloud approached him at high speeds, "Alistar?" he gawked at seeing the redhead with a look of terror on his face.

"Alllliiiiistaaaaaaarrr!" Jace heard Camille roar from the distance. He wasn't sure what Alistar had done to earn Camille's wrath at such a level, but he was certain that he might have deserved it.

"Who should we help?" he asked Rave, who was sitting on his shoulder.

"Mmmm… Camille!" the Exceed responded happily.

"Got it!" Jace responded, "Ice-Make: Rampart!" he announced as a wall of ice erupted from the ground right as Alistar was about to pass by, the S-Class mage running straight into the wall with a painful sounding thud.

"Allll-iiii-sssstar," Camille growled lowly as she walked up to the downed S-Class mage, grabbing him by the collar before dragging him off.

"Damned… traitors…" Alistar cursed as he was dragged off.

"I wonder if we did the right thing," Jace mused, "I can't help but feel like we condemned him to something horrible…"

"Aye…" Rave muttered in agreement.

* * *

><p><strong>CN: **Mother… I… Just what… I don't even know what to say… How… Ugh… She's embarrassing herself and she doesn't even realize it… Sad thing is that she really would do something like that…

Well anyways, that first scene will lead up to another omake special for another day and that's probably when I'll see you all again! Ciao!

**A/N: **So yeah, in all seriousness… what the heck did I just write? Ah well, hopefully it was entertaining. And yes, it is completely within Camille's personality for her to act like that. Oh yeah, I think Celeste will be featured in all of the Omake Special A/N's from here on out, just cause, you know?

I'll try to have the next chapter up soon and don't forget to leave a review!

Your host,

Dreadburner94.


End file.
